But the hat is real Mom!

***WARNING*** Spoiler. No kids under the age of Believing should view this post.

Why can't kids keep secrets? If parents are going to spoil the fun of Christmas to their kids then they need to make sure they tell them not to spoil it for other kids. The time came last night to fill Braxton in on the secret about Christmas. During our little conversation about it he questioned the pictures that were taken at Christmas by Santa. "But the hat is real Mom," he said. Through sadness and tears he now knows the truth. I told him I was in third grade when I found out too and cried as well. We had a great discussion about him being able to help us out a bit and I think that made him feel better. I did try to put it in his mind not to say a thing to any of his friends because they still may not know the little Christmas secret. We went over what the true meaning of Christmas was again. I was able to have a spiritual experience with him and bore my testimony to him. He was able to brush the sadness aside. Although the shock of it all may still hurt a bit he will recover just like the rest of us. I told him I still Believe in my heart and in my head. After all, I know the spirit of Christmas is real from our little secret Santa a few years back. My kids are growing up. :(

Bowling with the Fam.

We had a lot of fun at Fat Cats. The kids love going there and think it is the best thing ever. They got a gift certificate at Christmas to go bowling here so we finally took them. When we got there and we were getting out of the car Braxton said, "Can this day get any better?" And of Course Corey and I had to strike a pose after we both got a strike! Let's just say I need to go bowling more. I used to be a heck of a lot better. ;)

Valentine Fun

I had such a fun time the past couple weeks. Leading up to Valentines I would find little notes, shower gels and sprays from Bath & Body Works, and odds and ends every day. I looked forward to finding these little things after I would work out or at the end of the day getting ready for bed. It was so much fun and something I really enjoyed. To top it all off my husband won a contest.........again. In this prize package was tickets to Romeo and Juliet, Morgan Jewelers gift certificate, and a flower certificate as well. It was exciting to receive these things but it was all the little things that he left me each day that really ment a lot. He is so wonderful and I love Him so much. Thanks for all you do for us Honey!

Above: His winnings which ended up being my winnings. :)

We did not go out to dinner on Valentines. We decided we could just enjoy it as much at home.

Corey cooked the dinner too. He even made Twice-baked potatoes. What a man! ;)

And of course we ended up having company. The two little ones really seemed to like our set up more than their dinner. Oh well! We enjoyed it anyway.

(She was heart broken because Daddy wouldn't let her sit on his lap. I think he gave in for a little bit though.)

Sisters make the Best Friends

After getting off the phone yesterday I came down the hall and saw this. I have caught them on Sammy's bed reading before but it broke up before I could get a picture. This just made me giggle. Thank you Sammy for being such a wonderful Big Sister.

Of course Clarissa heard the camera and had to stop to give me one of her Cheesey smiles.

Samantha's first Recital

This was Sammy's first dance recital. You can tell she was nervous but she did a really good job. She has really enjoyed going to dance and had fun getting all dolled up for her performance. Unless I can figure out how to make the video smaller I can't upload it for you all to see. Just know that she did great and I can't wait to see her improvement during the Spring recital.

Above: Sammy is the middle group and the girl on the left.

More of Braxton's b-day

Here are the final pictures of Braxton's birthday week. We obviously were not paying attention to what Clarissa was doing. When it was finally noticed Corey grabbed the camera to record. She was obviously having lots of fun and didn't find any wrong in what she was doing.

Below: Braxton had two of his friends over to play on his birthday. They ate pizza and had lots of goodies. They really enjoyed playing the Wii.

We had a Basketball theme this year. He plays Jr. Jazz right now and really likes it.

We love you Braxton and have enjoyed reminiscing the last nine years. Thanks for being such a wonderful son.

Happy Birthday Braxton

If you haven't been following this week I have made it all about Braxton. Today is his official Birthday. Back on Monday I wrote:

"Nine years ago this week was a very long week. He was due on Superbowl Sunday but was nice and comfy in my tummy. The doctor thought he would see me early in the week but set up an induction date for Saturday, Feb. 5th..........to be continued."

And so it continues......

The week came to an end and at 8:00 Saturday morning, on February 5th, we walked into the hospital to have this baby. ***Just a side note, a few weeks prior to this I asked the doctor if he were to guess how big the baby was going to be what would he say. His answer: "I would say about 7 1/2 pounds."*** Anyway, I probably got started officially between 8:30 and 9:00 that morning. Was it ever a long day. Things weren't progressing very quickly. I was in so much pain. Was I ever happy when the relief finally came. This was the BEST epidural I have ever had. I was so very happy to have it. I got sick a few times throughout this process and at one point they had to put the oxygen mask over my mouth. Around 10:30 that night it was finally time to push. Finally at 11:18 we delivered Braxton. Oh my goodness. They took him and were trying to work on him to clean him up and get his color into him. I found out his weight and his height. Our jaws dropped when we heard... 10 lbs. 10 oz. and 22 inches. So much for a 7 1/2 pound baby. I was watching him with the nurses and he just wasn't turning pink. Next thing I knew I finally realized I was having some kind of complications. Corey was so calm through the whole thing. I was sad because they took Braxton out of the room. I thought that Corey should follow but little did I know that he needed to be there for me. Corey was on one side and the anesthesiologist on the other side "smacking" me trying to tell me to breathe. (Just now discussing it with Corey I found out some other info. I didn't know he smacked me in the face, I didn't really know that they were yelling at me to stay awake and breathe. My memory is totally different.) I had, what was called, an inverted uterus. I lost a ton of blood but somehow through it all pulled through. All I can say is that I was very blessed. I had a tremendous amount of blessings before all this and after this. I also was extremely blessed to be able to have more kids after this whole ordeal. Braxton had some complications but obviously he is here with us today and doing well. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband who was worthy and faithful to help us during this time.

Here are more wonderful pictures of Braxton.

(Above: This is the first close up I saw of him. Someone took this picture and brought it to me in my room.)

Baby Braxton

Here he is at two months old. These were his blessing pictures. He had fallen asleep right before we took the pictures and I had to try and wake him up.

This is what happened when I woke him up.

And of course we had to do one fun one.

Braxton was drenched in food and I wasn't going to bring him upstairs to wash him off so we filled the sink with water to wash him off. He obviously barely fit in it.

If you didn't get a good enough look at all his rolls in the picture above here is a closer look. lol =)

Braxton's Week

This week is all about him!

Nine years ago this week was a very long week. He was due on Superbowl Sunday but was nice and comfy in my tummy. The doctor thought he would see me early in the week but set up an induction date for Saturday, Feb. 5th..........to be continued.

I love him and am so thankful that I was blessed with such a handsome, outgoing young man. I will be posting pictures of this handsome guy this week. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I do. It's hard to believe he will be nine this week. Where does the time go to?