He's Four!?!?!

Dearest Kyle

At least once a week you and I have a discussion about how big you are getting. It usually consists of me holding you in a bear hug and begging you to stay little. Usually you laugh and says "No, mama, I want to be big, big, big, big!" On occasion you will agree to never get too big to snuggle with me. But every once in a while maybe you share in my melancholy at how you used to fit so nicely in my lap and how you could snuggle up into a little ball in my arms because you'll say, "ok, mama, I will stay wittle".

While so many things have changed since we spent our days like this, thankfully somethings have stayed the same.  You still love smoochers and giving me a huge squish and a squeeze, cuddling and doing what your daddy and I do.

 You are my best helper, and will readily jump in to help out with the dishes or sweeping. Emily is not fond of picking up her toys, and many times you will run around cleaning up after your little sister.

You are a fabulous big brother and have accepted Grayson into your life

just as easily as you did Emily.

I love how you were so willing to share all of your favorite "tings" with Emily when she was a baby,

and now with Grayson

Your amazing balance and coordination combined with your sense of fearlessness have kept me on my toes at times, and your sense of adventure will surely bring me some moments of fear. For now you are content to climb whatever you can whenever you can.

Within 5 minutes of first learning how to use the motorized 4 wheeler we got for your birthday, you were already switching it into high gear and trying something new; standing up

Without question I know that the trepidation I felt when your dad enabled the faster speed on the 4 wheeler is nothing compared to what I will feel in the future when you discover things like hockey or football, dirt bikes or motorcycles, and Heaven help me when you are ready to start driving a real car, or when you begin dating.....

The past year has brought many  new and exciting changes to your life as well.You started preschool this year, and while I know this might change in the future, you have adored your time at school. You have learned how to write your name,

made new friends, and explored musical theater and had a starring role as a camel in the Christmas program.

Thomas the Train has been replaced by Batman as your new favorite obsession

All traces of the chubby cheeked toddler have disappeared

leaving a handsome young man with a quick and easy smile and a contagious laugh.

Happy 4th Birthday Kyle James. You have given the last 4 years more meaning than I could have ever imagined and more memories than I can count. You will always be my baby boy.

I love you the best plus one!

Life Moments

Things that have made me tear up this past week:

1. After reading Kyle's bed times story the other night, Travis came to bed and said that Ky had done something that he hadn't done since he was very little. Expecting a story of Kyle being mischievious or naughty I was caught off guard when Travis said that he used wiggle his fingers at Kyle as he was leaving the bedroom after putting him to bed and that Ky would wiggle his fingers back at him, but that he hadn't waved back at Travis in a long time, but this night he did. The things that Kyle remembers often surprise me, but this was a sweet moment between Daddy and son that I am lucky to learned about.
2. Seeing Grayson's tiny little hand grasping my finger while he is nursing.
3. Mother's Day 2012 was wonderful. It was Nana's birthday as well and we had the entire family over supper and cake. After every one had left Kyle kept giving me hugs and kisses. During one especially tight squeeze Ky looked up at me and said "You're a good mama."
4. Every day Kyle comes to sit by me when I am holding Grayson and says "how is Grayson today? Is he happy? How are you, Grayson?" Not a day goes by without him giving is baby brother kisses.
5. Emily's exclamation of "Mama!" as she breaks into her adorable waddle/sprint as she runs to me, grabs my legs in a huge squeeze and beams her beautiful smile up at me.

Two.

My darling Emily,

I wish I could write words that conveyed the unnameable combination of emotions I feel when I think about how quickly the past 2 years have gone. You have changed so much in the past year it is scary and amazing all at the same time.

Since becoming a mama I have realized that my children's birthdays are more than just presents, cake, candles and balloons. They are days that make me stop and reflect on the passage of time, an opportunity to take a walk down memory lane and remember all the things that make you you.

Emmie, you are very much daddy's princess, a true girly girl at heart. You adore hair pretties and wearing piggies, hats are your favorite accessory and you have an ever evolving sense of style.

 Using a winter must have, and wearing a vintage piece (her Auntie Jessica's dress) Emily effortlessly updates the look with a pair of complimentary fur topped boots.

 You are the  most expressive little girl, your every emotion shows clearly on your face

You even love Hiyo enough to share your birthday ice cream

Loving you is Heaven, my sweet pea. You are precious and loved, and always will be. Happy 2nd birthday Emily Makenna!

As much as I love you today, I know from experience I will love you even more tomorrow

.

Patriotism

On the way to taking Kyle to daycare after preschool we fell in line with a group of buses carrying National Guard soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan, and a long line of cars with the family members of the soldiers who were following them to say their goodbyes. They were all being escorted by about 15 Patriot Guard Riders. On each of the bikes were 3 flags, which caught Kyle's attention. I glanced over at the drivers of the cars and had to hold back tears because the anguish on the faces of those family members and friends was so easy to see. Kyle asked why there were so many motorcycles with flags on them and I had a hard time answering right away. How do you explain to a three year old the significance of the line of buses, motorcycles, and cars carrying heart broken people? Once I was able to speak I told him simply that the buses were taking many soldiers to the airport and they were going away for a long time, and that the flags were a way for the people on the motorcycles to show the soldiers that they respected them and wished them a safe trip.

Thank you to all the soldiers who selflessly give up so much to protect so many, and to the people they leave behind. Thank you as well to the real American Patriots who work so hard to show their support for our military heroes.

Easter, Easter and Easter Again

This year we celebrated Easter to the third power. The festivities kicked off with an egg hunt at the Dakota Zoo. Emily was not feeling the big, fuzzy bunny.

 

Everyone got bunny ears to help get in the spirit

We got there early and I was happy to see that it wasn't going to be a freaky free for all with 12 year old kids plowing down helpless toddlers in the quest to find the most pastel colored eggs. The good people at the zoo had created roped off areas for different age groups. Instead of Emily being the sad little toddler without any eggs, she was actually one of the biggest kids in her area and turned out to be an egg hog!

"Holy, Emmie, how did you get so many eggs?"

There was a drawing for an outrageously enormous stuffed bunny. Of course Livesay luck kicked in and Travis and Emily had the winning ticket. The rest of us missed the big moment in the name of going to see if the "rockidles" were in their pool; a quest which left the littles disappointed because even though the weather had been unbelievable warm this spring, the crocodiles were still in their winter vacation home. Brina was the big winner of the day, but she graciously agreed to joint custody after seeing how heart broken Kyle was to have the big bunny go home with his cousin.

The itty bitties have been so good this year that the Easter Bunny decided they needed two more egg hunts followed the following week, one at home and one at Nana's and Papa's.

Apparently Emily was not impressed with the little plastic frog that she found in one of the eggs

That clever bunny brought Daddy and Kyle matching shirts, just calling for a tough guy pose. Brina's tough guy face looks a little more like an I-just-ate-a-lemon face, maybe she needs a batman shirt too.

Since Grayson was due to arrive so close to Easter, the family decided that everyone would postpone the family Easter in Jamestown until after the baby was born. In addition to all the usual figure friendly food, we had presents for Grayson

 gift bags to jump in

 time for family pictures

 and a treasure hunt!

Hope you all had a wonderful and family filled Easter!

Grayson's Story

Vomit. That's how the day started, with Kyle coming into our room in the wee hours of the morning, saying "Mama, I'm sick". It had been almost a week since Emily had recovered, and I had thought the rest of us had escaped the 3 day bug. Poor little mister spent the morning laying on the couch, getting sick every 20-30 minutes.

I had been having strong Braxton Hicks contractions daily for the past month, and a little before noon I felt like maybe I was having real contractions, but they didn't last very long so I thought it was just more BH contractions. Travis came home for lunch at around 1:00 and by that time I was sure that I was having some regular contractions. During one of my early Dr. appointments I had joked with the nurse practitioner that I would probably need to come to the hospital as soon as I felt I was having contractions so I didn't have this baby at home since Emily came so fast. Being the dedicated doc that he is, Travis asked me at least three times "So I shouldn't go back even for a little while?" after I had told him that he probably shouldn't go back to work because I was sure that today was baby day.

By 2:00 I knew that my BH contractions were a thing of the past, and these were the real thing. I was laying in bed, with the contractions coming about every 10 minutes apart. I called the Labor and Delivery nurse about 45 minutes later and explained that I was a little concerned about when to come in as my last labor progressed so quickly. She assured me that I had time, and that I should wait to come in until they were coming 5 minutes apart. Emily had come to lay in bed with me, and was watching a movie as I tried to relax. Less than an hour later I felt a really strong contraction, a sensation like the baby had kicked out or turned, and then a pop and I knew my water had broken, which had never happened with either of the other two babies. I called out for Travis and ran into the bathroom, which must have scared Emily because she started crying. I told Travis to call Labor and Delivery and let them know we would be coming in, and to call my mom so she could come stay with the kids.

My contractions went from 10 minutes apart to pretty much back to back, with little time in between, and I felt a lot of pain in my back. Rocking on my hands and knees helped alleviate some of the back pain, but it really freaked Emmie out to see me, and she had a wide eyed, terrified look on her face. My law abiding mother must have sped her way up here because she was walking in the house in no time. My contractions were so strong and fast, and I was having a lot of back pain so instead of sitting in the seat of the truck I leaned it back as far as it would go and faced the back of the vehicle in a semi-reclined position on my hands and knees. Even though he swears he wasn't going "that fast", Travis was passing cars left and right, and at one point even passed a car on the left side, crossing into the oncoming (empty, thank you Lord!) lane of traffic. He later claimed that he had passed at least 4 police vehicles and since none of them pulled us over that served as proof that he wasn't speeding...too much.

A few minutes down the road I started having the urge to push so I told Travis to call labor and delivery back to let them know we would get down to business the second I got there. The conversation went something like this: "This is Travis Livesay, I just called to let you know that I was bringing my wife in. She's feeling the urge to push, and it's her third baby so she knows what that feels like".  Ok, seeing it in writing isn't nearly as humorous as it was when he said it. Maybe you need to be in the situation of racing at Nascar like speed, weaving in and out of traffic like "The Fast and the Furious", and being minutes away from your worst nightmare coming true, but it was funny, trust me.

Once we got to the hospital I was totally that stereotypical woman in labor that you see on t.v., in fact I wouldn't be surprised if the high school girl working the admissions desk put in her resignation at the end of that shift. She was waiting for me with a wheelchair, and with the memories of how unbelievably uncomfortable it is to sit in one of those things mid-contraction (again, which were back to back by this time) I grabbed the armrests, leaned over the chair and worked up to the courage to turn around and sit down for the ride upstairs. I will give the her credit, once I was seated she was trying to gently push me over the bumps and uneven spots in the floor while still getting us all to the second floor in a timely manner to avoid delivering her first baby in the hospital hallway so I probably should go apologize to her for yelling growling snapping something along the lines of "Don't worry about the d*** bumps, just get me where I need to be!"  The poor thing suddenly took off at a sprint and was huffing and puffing by the time she got me to the delivery room, and I'm pretty sure she took the last corner on two wheels.

Sparing you the rest of the details, I think I started pushing before they could even get all of my clothes off, and I really don't remember what I said to the nurse who tried to stop my from pushing, instead urging me to do "little grunts" (WTH???!?!?!). Dr. Bury must have run (literally) over from the clinic and she arrived in time to deliver Grayson before clocking out for the day.

 Welcome to the world, Grayson Thomas! 8 lb. 2 oz. and 21 1/2" long at 4:59 p.m.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012.

Bringing Grayson home from the hospital was the best feeling since Kyle had been so sick and neither he nor Emmie had been to the hospital to meet their new brother. When we got home on Thursday both of them were so happy to see us.

Kyle asked if "we can keep him for-eber" and wanted to hold Grayson right away.

 

Welcome home Grayson!

Fight like Batman

Batman has replaced Thomas the train as the newest obsession in our house. Kyle has 3 batman shirts that are in regular rotation, and the only real way to get him to wear something different is to leave the batman shirts in the dirty pile (and sometimes even that won't stop a determined boy).

The first attempt at fighting like batman looked a little bit like a scary bunny rabbit

Put your head up Kyle! A little better....

 Double team!

Luckily no one got hurt during this lesson, and it ended with team photo opportunity.