Ezra and Makai's Birthday

This summer I decided to do another combined party for Ezra and Makai. I was planning on having it before the baby came, but since I was induced early we opted for later which worked out better for them anyways since it ended up being right in between their birthdays. We did a pirate party. And since we did it the same weekend as Brynlee's baby blessing, we were lucky enough to have BOTH of their grandmas here for it too!

I had so much fun planning their pirate party. Aside from the pool party portion of it being rained out, everything went great.

I had to drink a lot of root beer to get these invites. lol.

I'll save you from the individual pictures of the food and just give a summary because I felt cool having my dishes labelled. lol. We had peg legs (corn dogs), cannon balls (cheese balls), Pirate ship (watermelon fruit bowl), 7 sea dip (7 layer nacho dip), Chips ahoy cookies, fish and chips (goldfish and potato chips), buccaneers jello surprise, just a standard veggie platter that I don't know if I named and then some pirate marshmallow pops and cupcakes. 

My mom worked hard painting this for a ball toss "feed the shark" We still have it :)

I spent a lot of time drawing and cutting out swords from cardboard for a couple of months before the party so we could start with a "decorate a sword" table. I also had telescopes for them to decorate. This was so cute to see kiddos getting creative! 

My prized pirate marshmallow pops

Treasure hunt. I found this plastic chest at walmart and just spray painted it. We made a special trip to the beach and I filled it with sand and then mixed in lots of treasure! 

yeah.. there were a lot of kids! 

pin the flag on the treasure map 

Dek-o had to get in on the action too.

MakaDuke went a little crazy with the jello.

Singing Happy Birthday to my big boys! 

Grandma Lene was there standing guard around Brynlee while she slept the whole time! She's seriously so easy! 

The line up for the treasure hunt. I was shocked they all waited so patiently for their turn.

Our walk the plank that Deklan claimed the second James set it up. 

We also had a "ring around the sword game" and a cannonball toss that we never got to. Kids got crazy and just ran around instead. lol. It was so fun. A lot of work, but well worth it.


Ezra turned 6 on July 17th and Makai turned 4 on August 14th. They both got new bikes for their birthday!

Walk the Plank

For Ezra and Makai's pirate party this summer I made a plank for a "walk the plank" game. It's so silly how walking across a board can be so much fun for kids. My kids loved it and even had to dress up in character while they played with it around the house.

I have some goofy children and I just love them to pieces! (notice sweet B Lee in the background? She's an angel baby!)

My Baby Shower

I have some incredible friends who went above and beyond to make this baby shower extra special. With this being my first girl after a "long" wait, they decided it needed to be a big deal and it certainly was. I feel so blessed to know these women and to call them my friends. They are amazing.

The room pre-shower

Sarah and Katie

Sarah and Ashley

A good chunk of the planning committee (there was actually a committee!! haha)
Dana, Sarah, Katie, Ashley, Lesley (and Katy behind the camera)

walking in with my girly escort

Eating lunch. They served wonderful food.

obviously the present table ;)

opening presents with my girl, Haley (aka Ezzy's best friend and my little sugar)

They did so much DIY stuff for this shower it was so touching.

Loved this little display. And the table next to it had a book display for  signed books instead of cards. It was a great idea and Brynie B got her first princess books here!

My favorite flower -stargazing lily on every table. Above and beyond!

Sarah made a gorgeous cake that I didn't get a picture of so I am trying to track that down. They had games and beautiful prizes and yummy food and treats. And most of the decor they sent home with me for Bryn's room!

I am just so honored and I feel so humbled to see the work that they put into making this shower special for me. I know it wasn't easy and sometimes it probably wasn't even fun, but any time I told them to simplify I was shot down and told that they wanted to do this for me. It brought me to tears. It lowered my stress of a scary pregnancy and helped me to focus on the excitement of having a baby girl. I can't say 'thank you' enough. I love these girls and I loved my girly shower!

Introducing Sister to Brothers

The boys all came with my mom to visit us in the hospital the day Brynlee was born, but they were far more interested in my "owies" and Nana's phone and their friends that also came to visit than they were in their new baby sister. However, their interest was raised the next day when we brought her home. They were all so loving and so excited to see her. They think she's beautiful and our little princess and they are so amazingly gentle with her. They all love kissing her and hugging her and touching her. Ezra enjoys sitting by her in the car and helping her if she gets fussy. It's adorable.

They were all eagerly awaiting our return. It made coming home so exciting. They even colored pictures with Nana and hung them on the door for us :)

He did not want to let this baby out of his arms. I kept trying to take her back and he just held her tighter and squawked at me. He is a very proud big brother. He comes in every morning to check on her in her bed. He was fascinated by her umbilical cord and gets alarmed and concerned when she gets fussy.

Makai loves her and shouts her name every time she's awake.

Proud Big Brothers

Ezra is such a great helper with her and is already protective. Though I can't get him to change her diapers, darn it!

He really would not let her go any time I let him hold her. It kind of made me nervous because he would just squeeze her tighter.

They can't wait to see her crawl and hear her talk and keep asking me what she can do now. Lol. Even though she may not be very interactive right now, it is so sweet to see these boys love her and get excited to have her in our family! Such good big brothers this lucky little girl has ;)

And I am loving playing dress up every day:

cutest little Minnie Mouse I have ever seen

4th of July

I love my little girl :)

Brynlee Kay

After six years of waiting we have finally been blessed with a baby girl. She was worth the wait. James is so in love that it actually makes me jealous. When he calls her his baby girl and my ears perk up thinking he's talking to me, I get a little disappointed. But I have to say that it is the sweetest thing to see this wild, crazy, always wrestling daddy become a softy, already talking about her wedding day :)

The boys are obsessed with her. It has way surpassed my expectations of how they'd react. It's adorable. They all want to hold her any time she is in sight and are so curious about all the little things she does and has.

Getting her here was a little scary. I haven't talked about it because I just wanted her here safely before I brought it up. When I was about 22 weeks or so they discovered she had what is called an umbilical cord varix which is basically like a varicose vein on the umbilical cord. The day I found out I was gently told, "You're at higher risk of having a still born." My heart sank. Feeling that she'd be okay, but fearing that she wouldn't tore my heart apart. Finally getting our girl and now I'm being told she may not be joining our family after all. I started going in for weekly ultrasounds and she looked perfect every time, though the vein continued to grow and raise concern, so I was asked to come in for ultrasounds twice a week in addition to my normal appointments. The doctor is an hour away, so it made life interesting each week hauling all three boys in and out of appts and trying to get them to be still and quiet while I was checked out. Overall they did well.

My doctor has never seen this complication before and after doing her research on it she decided that we had better get baby girl out as soon as she was able to come. So we set an induction date for 37 weeks gestation. I was terrified and heartbroken because I did not want to be induced and I had the best birth with Deklan and was hoping for something similar this time around. However, whatever got my baby girl here was what I was voting for.

Finally the day came: June 30th (37.3 weeks) They told us to be there at 6am (remember we live an hour away, so that was an early morning!) They didn't get us in a room until 6:40am. Then they strapped me to the monitors, drew blood and we waited. I was at a 1 and a half. Finally they started pitocin at 8:25am. It was all fun and games for the first couple hours and I wondered if this was really going to work. I was told with it being my fourth and how fast my labors go naturally that I could expect 2-4 hours after they started pitocin. I didn't see that happening.. After about 2 hours and only making it to a 2, I consented to the doctor breaking my water (I did not want that originally, but baby girl had to come out today one way or another, so I just gave up all control.)

Started on pitocin waiting for baby girl. Sure, all smiles, right?

Soon after things intensified dramatically and I was trying to escape to another world to fight the pain. I told them I felt like I needed to use the restroom, so she checked me first. I told her I was in so much pain I had a feeling she wouldn't let me use the restroom. That's when she told me I was a 4. HA! I turned to her and not very nicely shouted, "A FOUR?! That's all?!!" That's when my concentration faded and I got angry. I never get angry or mean during labor, but this was a different story.

I went to the bathroom crying, came out moaning and had a heart to heart with James asking him if he felt like things would be okay if I got an epidural. He answered way too slowly and not the answer I wanted so I got even more angry. I was checked and was told I was at a 6 now only twenty minutes after being a 4, but I still wasn't satisfied. I air punched James a couple of times (sorry love), and then began screaming for an epidural and telling them to get that guy in there NOW! (I find this funny now, but mostly incredibly embarrassing, but I'm still including it in the story because I am not as tough as people thought based on my previous deliveries and I just want to be honest.)

Anyways, James was still adamant that I didn't need an epidural and could do this. I was still screaming so the nurse came in, checked me again (it had only been ten minutes since I was checked and at a 6.) I was at an 8. Then she offered a drug in the IV which I consented to and kept screaming for the epidural. As she was putting the drug in the IV I had a heckuva contraction and told her I was pushing and this baby was coming. It had been less than five minutes from being checked at an 8. She yelled at me to stop pushing which I ignored and she half got gloves on and yelled out for help and for someone to get my doctor. Then I had a baby.

2:17pm, 7lbs 8oz, 19in
(I have big babies. Had she been 40 weeks she probably would've been another 9pounder!)

My doctor came in right after she was born. Brynlee was not crying, but was moving. She was totally blue and they cut that cord immediately against James' request and then rushed her to the other side of the room. I didn't even get to hold her right away :(

She was fine and they finally brought her to me. Our hospital stay was against my will, but it really wasn't that bad. The nursing staff was very nice and left me alone for the most part since it was my fourth baby. Brynlee was "referred" in her left ear during her hearing screening, meaning she didn't pass, but didn't mean she couldn't hear; just that she needed a more extensive test. We'll get that in a couple of weeks, but I'm pretty sure it's not an issue. She is tongue tied, but hasn't been an issue nursing, so we're not doing anything about that at this point either.

We got home early evening on July 1st and are so happy to have our whole family together. We're happy to have my mom here to help with the boys as well so James could be with me and get air punched and yelled at ;)

Overall I hate pitocin. I hate IV's and those darn monitors that slip and beep if you move even slightly. And I hate staying at hospitals. BUT... baby girl is here and she's healthy and she's mine!!!

She looks just like Ezra and James that it is too weird. I kept calling her "sweet boy" for the first day. I guess it's still so weird to me to have a baby girl. James won't change her diapers because he's nervous. I'm giving him a grace period right now, but that won't last forever. Mean time we are all in love with this sleeping beauty and so happy to have her join our family!

An update about introducing her to the boys will hopefully come tomorrow. They have been so sweet with her that it deserves it's own post ;) And I promise to have better pictures of her!

Baby Girl Tressler!

Brynlee Kay Tressler

Born June 30, 2014 at 2:17pm

7lbs 8ounces 19 inches

She's here and she's perfect. I will try to share details (and better pics) tomorrow! (if you care about that sort of thing :)

Getting Ready for Baby

This baby has given us some drama already. To be fair, I was warned that's what girls do :) I will get into detail about the complications once she is here and safe. 

I love this profile picture 

One of the things we needed to do to get ready for baby was to get her a room filled with pink and tulle and bows! That meant Deklan needed to get the big boot out of his room sending Makai out of his room and into Ezra's room. So we finally got bunkbeds for the "older" boys! They love their beds and have done very well sleeping in the same room which is such a blessing because I really did not have faith that it was going to work so well. While James and I were setting up the bunkbed the kids were playing in the other room. I heard one say, "it's snowing!" and then they both laughed. Ummm.... what could that mean. I found them shredding the sytrofoam all over the playroom. Thankfully it vacuums nicely :)

The only "snow" I've seen in Texas

Then we moved Deklan into Makai's old room and big boy bed. I was very nervous for this transition because Dek-O is just a baby himself, but he did wonderfully for the first week, so I relaxed and started turning his old room into a girls room. That's when he started causing issues getting out of bed and fighting naps. I'm sure it's just an adjustment period, but I'm missing those restful nights of crib sleeping. I have been trying to keep him in the room at sleep time so he can get used to putting himself back in his own bed if he gets out. This is what I found one afternoon after a mini meltdown:

So he doesn't always make it back into his bed and he loses his binky a lot more often now and he plays during naptime on occassion (his bedroom is the playroom), but at least he's still a bundle of cuteness that even sleep deprivation can't ignore. 

We are all sooo excited to have baby sister come join our family and we are gladly welcoming pink all around! Even James has been caught going through her clothes saying, "Oh goodness gracious. Too cute." He can't wait! It's the best :)

I had to... Don't judge me.

 The beginning of June my amazing friends threw me an incredible baby shower! I am waiting on pictures from that and will do a post as soon as I get them, but for now you get the aftermath of that shower.

I got lots of girly girly girly items and just couldn't wait to try some of them out. That's where my boys came in handy:

At first he seemed cool with it.

Then I put him in a full girly outfit mini skirt and all and that wasn't as fun for him.

Then I added another tutu because I'm mean and that was just plain cruel.

So then I called Makai over and he was happy to model one of the tutus and hair pieces very briefly :)

 Sorry boys! I won't need you to be my bow/tutu model any longer because baby sister is on her way! Like literally on her way... As in... I'm blogging from my hospital bed with a laptop pressing on my contractions!! So excited!

Ezra's Black Eye

Our little buddy has had a rough go the past couple of months. After a baseball game he was playing on the bleachers and his cleat slid out from under him sending him head first into the bleacher bench. This resulted in a seriously nasty black eye:

The morning after

2 days after

3 days after (he had to work hard, but he could finally open his eye!)

He was so embarrassed about it. He wore his sunglasses everywhere; including on stage to sing with the primary!

 Then a couple of weeks ago little Ez and Makaduke crashed into each other running in the house knocking out Ezra's front tooth and bumping two others back making them wiggly. He looked like he got punched in the face for the second time in two months. Awesome. Thankfully his eye is healing (though it is STILL a little bruised.) And his teeth will be fine. It'll be awhile before he gets those grown up teeth in according to the xray, but I am getting used to his new smile and he is figuring out how to eat again. Hoping for no more accidents at least through the summer.

The best part of it was when little Makai came up to me with a very concerned look on his face and said, "Is Ezra turning into a black guy?" Guess all the talk of "black eyes" has him a little confused. haha