This is My Forties

I realized that I have only posted pictures of Brennan asleep in the baby swing. Sleeping babies BEG to have their pictures taken... however, Brennan is even cuter when he's awake. So, I made it a point to get some yesterday while the lighting in the living room was decent. I took pictures of Tristan and Noah in this chair when they were newborns as well. I love them because the chair is SO BIG but the boys are soooo small. Noah Tristan Brennan Noah asks to hold Brennan all the time and Bren really loves him. He stares at him while he talks and has even cracked a few smiles for his big brother. Noah was too young to hold Tristan so this is the first time he's held one of his little brothers. He loves being a big brother! These make me wish I had this camera my entire life. There is such a big difference in photo quality. I think back on Monterey, Noah's whole life, Tristan's first year, the trip to Germany... and I want to go back and retake all my pictures hah...

We just had a great visit with some of Josh's family. His Dad, brother, and their lovely ladies all came out for a few days over the long weekend. Josh and I got to meet Logan's fiance and we highly approve :) Love you, Torey!! :D Everyone else got to meet Brennan and I think he was a big hit ;) I'm really glad we were able to see them before leaving for Spain. Thanks so much for making that long trek out here to see us, guys! Sorry we weren't more entertaining while you were here... newborns are kind of demanding. I hope you guys had a fun time anyway! I know I did. We get to have Josh's Mom out here for a few days in June before we leave too! I love having family come visit. Brennan is gaining weight like a champ. I don't have an "official" weigh-in, but according to our home scale he is over 10lbs already! Almost a whole month old... dang. I never get used to how quickly the newborn stage goes. He's a great eater and is already sl...

For those of you who feel they need yet another dose of Burnetty cuteness here's the link to the entire set Vita took while she was here.  Chock full of adorable moments!  I have a lot of saving to do :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/alamosbasement/sets/72157618474454121/

These are only the ones she took with my camera, not hers.  I think she did a great job... especially considering the fact that she's a Canon user :)  She said to go ahead, tweak and upload them since my Nikon raw files won't open right with Lightroom.  Here are some of my faves! :D  The flickr slideshow in the sidebar will link you to all of the rest.  I love these pictures, Vita!  Thank you so much for taking them :)

After much discussion and lots of help from a new friend we have our Bosley back. As you all know he was adopted right away, but he was also returned the next day after 2 very very stress-filled nights and a day at the groomer. I can't say I blame them for bringing him back. He requires a lot of love, attention, and exercise. He also requires a long adjustment period. He had a rough couple of days to say the least. No hard feelings, though. There is no one out there that's going to love and understand him as much as we do. We also didn't realize how much we loved him until we heard how he was handling his new surroundings and it actually physically hurt to picture him like that again. So... we picked him up at 8:30 that night. He had been waiting in the corner of the yard, watching the road. I'm so glad we showed up and didn't disappoint him. He's settled back in and lovely. He's actually more calm if you can believe it. Maybe it's because ...

Today went pretty well.  I am still sad about Bosley, but have been in contact with his new family and although he's very nervous I think he's going to be just fine!  I was able to do a couple errands, just me and the boys.  Unfortunately I must have run into something with the sideview mirror because it exploded on the way home.  It was really weird.  Only the glass is broken... I am wondering if I even hit something or if maybe someone hit me.  No idea... regardless it needs replaced because I cannot drive without my mirrors.  Tomorrow will be grocery shopping day.  Wish me luck!  Oh and I took this a long time ago, but never uploaded it!  This is the set we got on clearance for Brennan's room (once we get to Spain).  We love animals and clearance items ;)  We got the mobile too!

We dropped Bosley off at the Humane Society today at 3 and it was VERY DIFFICULT!  He was staring at us and he cried like I'd never heard him cry before.  I was devastated.  I kept picturing him getting locked up in a stinky cage... and he already had to suffer through that life so it was just awful to think about.  I cried off and on until about 8.  Then we got a phone call... he's already been adopted.  A nice family with young kids adopted him so he didn't even have to spend one single night in a cage.  I am so thankful!  The new family is going to send me a pic in email... we'll see :)  I don't mind if they don't.  I'm just glad he's found a family already.  I knew he would.  I guess tonight I will be able to sleep after all.

I hate money... unless we have money, which we don't right now... so... I hate money ;) haha. I spent all day on the phone trying to get things accomplished, but failed to really get anything done at all. Really all that happened was I talked to people who told me what they needed so I can talk to more people tomorrow. It's frustrating trying to get something done, but having to wait on something else to do it... and that's all we seem to be doing right now. We need to get Brennan's Passport, but we can't because we have to wait for his SSN, which we couldn't get because we had to wait for his birth certificate and shot records. We're going to have to get him a civilian expedited passport, which will run us around $100 I think, maybe more. We need to get letters from the lien holders of our vehicles so we can ship them, but we can't until we switch our insurance over to a company (USAA) that will cover us overseas... unfortunately it's more expensive...

My parents left on Mother's Day and Josh went back to work today so this is officially my first day as a SAHM to 3 little boys.  So far so good... but I am TIRED!  I have successfully fed all the wee ones and now need to feed myself.  I think today is a coffee day.  I've got laundry to do and phone calls to make... but first I have to feed myself.  I think the hardest part about breastfeeding is making sure you're taking in enough food and water! I will let you all know how my day went... and I will finally upload some more pics! 

Brennan still has his cord so no real baths yet, but I like my babies to smell so fresh and so clean so I gave him a little sink bath the other day. LOOK at that hair! :D We had a follow-up Dr. appointment today and Brennan has gained a whole 3ozs since we left the hospital (3 days ago) and is almost back to his birthweight at 7lbs 10ozs. He had another bili test and he's de-yellowing nicely. If it hadn't been so cloudy he would have been much better I'm sure because I'd have him getting a bit of sun. However, I learned from the doctor that all the pooping he's been doing also is great for getting rid of the bili woes. Everything else looks great and the doctors don't anticipate any travel issues, but want to see him again at one month just to be sure. I am all for that. Yesterday we took Brennan on his first family walk. He zonked right out in the baby sling just like Tristan used to do... did the same thing today as well. He is just now waking up, in ...

The time has come! :) After my appointment on April 30th I was determined to get things started. I was having some mild contractions, but I really thought nothing would start. I finally went to sleep at 10pm, thinking I would just have to wait. At 2am on May 1st I was awoken by some good contractions. I made sure they were gonna stick with me and woke Josh up after 6 good ones in a short 30 minute time span. I was worried that since I was 4cm already we wouldn't make it to the hospital in time. I was also worried that I wouldn't have time to get antibiotics for the Group B Strep I tested positive for so we went right to the hospital without waiting around. I was hooked up to an IV of fluids and penicillin and they explained it would be best for Brennan if I was able to get 2 full courses of penicillin (to be given every 4 hours) before my water broke. So... instead of walking I decided to relax as much as possible and let me veins suck in the goodness. This of cours...

Brennan Gabriel arrived on May 1st, 2009 at 1:28pm EST. He weighed 7lbs 14ozs and was 20.5" long. We had to stay at the hospital for 2 whole days this time, unfortunately. It was all for the best though :) I will be writing out Brennan's birth story and all that sometime in the next week probably. More pictures are on the sidebar! We're both doing great. I went all natural again and it was a long labor, but it had to be. I'll go into details later. This is the best I've felt after labor... no stitches or anything at all to complain about... seriously I feel like I didn't just give birth and I am amazed! Brennan's eating well. We're settling in nicely. Tristan has warmed up to Bren and is excited to see him and wonders where he is if I show up without him :) He's even stepped up a bit and is doing what little things a 19mos old baby can do to help. He brings me diapers and makes trips to the trash can. Noah is madly in love with him and...

My contractions woke me up at around 2am and continued with increasing intensity (finally).  It's now 3am.  They're about 5 minutes apart and a minute long so we're headed out.  YAY!!! :D :D