Gracie Jo Irwin

Gracie Jo Irwin was born on June 25th 2010. I had her by c-section so I have no exciting birth stories, unless you want to hear about the panic attack I had as the anesthesia was setting in. My Mom came up to see her and to help with the kids while I was in the hospital. She was 7lbs. 14oz. and I can't for the life of me remember how long she was, somewhere between 20-1/2 and 21-1/2 inches. She has really dark hair, which is weird because Braden's is only kind of dark and Cailyn's is super blond and Jordan and I were both blond kids. We'll see if it stays dark. Here are some pictures from the hospital.

Roller Skates

Jordan and I got Cailyn a pair of roller skates for her birthday, you know the ones that strap on over the shoes. She loved them but was a little scared of them. She hasn't been on them very much and I'm worried that she may have outgrown them already. But at least we got some pictures of her first go on them.

Lot's of Catch Up

So, I haven't posted since Braden's birthday, and a lot has happened since then. So plan on seeing a whole lot of post over the next few days. Braden started walking about 2 days after his birthday, and has been all over the place ever since. Then again he should be, he's almost 18 months now. Maybe I should start posting things sooner. Anyway, we had a birthday party for Cailyn and Braden on June 12th. My Mom and Dad and Nathan came up from Medford for the party. It wasn't the best planned party in the world but it was fun. Here's some pics of the day.

The awesome cake Heather made for them.

Kids eating the awesome cake Heather made.

Cailyn and Braden opening presents.

The Birthday Girl.

The Birthday Boy.

Gracie's Blessing Day

Oops, I wrote this forever ago(back in September) and forgot to post it.

Yesterday was Gracie's blessing day. My Mom, Dad, Nathan, Katie and Wesley came up from Medford for it. Also Jordan's sister Jenny and her family came to our ward for the blessing. So, super cool story. Jordan gave a beautiful blessing and afterward the bishopric asked that we all sit quietly while they prepare the sacrament. I thought, "that's weird, why isn't the sacrament ready yet." So after a few minutes of waiting and wondering what was going on, the doors on the side of stand open and a group of men walk in, and who was with them? That's right, Eldar David A. Bednar. He said that he was meeting some other general authorities there and was 20 minutes early so he decided to go to sacrament meeting and "freak some people out". He stood up and bore his testimony of the living Christ and then left. It was such a neat day for our family, I felt so blessed to be in the same room as a prophet and listen to him testify that Christ lives. Now we have a cool story to tell Gracie about her blessing day, it was super special.

Birthday Boy!

Yesterday was Braden's first birthday, I can't believe he's 1 already. And in just 10 more days is Cailyn's third birthday, wow 3. My kids are getting so big. We didn't get to celebrate Braden's birthday last night because I had to take Cailyn to the doctor, her tonsils are swollen, sad day. But she's fine. So anyway, we're doing a little birthday thing tonight, just us, and then after Cailyn's birthday we're having a combined party for both of them. Anyway, Happy Birthday Braden!!

Cailyns New Bike

We got Cailyn a big girl bike a few week ago and she's loving it. She's been riding her tricycle up until now. She looks so big on her new bike I can't believe she's even big enough for one already. She's been riding it almost every day, except for when she got sick last week (poor thing was stuck inside for three whole days). Anyway, with all the riding she's been doing she's getting really good at it. Jordan usually takes her out to ride and I was inside with a sick Braden for a few days and didn't see her ride at all. When I went out to watch her ride I was so surprised at how fast she could ride it. I foresee taking off her training wheels next spring or summer. I'm so proud of my little angel.

This was her first or second day on her new bike.

Here she is a few days later, getting better.

Braden can't wait for his turn, maybe in a couple of years kiddo.

Learning to Walk

Braden is getting super good at walking, while holding someones hands at least. If you let him get a hold of your hands, he just starts going. It's so fun. He also stands up on his own quite a bit. Sometimes he even takes a single step before sitting down or grabbing on to whatever is closest. Pretty darn good I'd say, since Jordan and I haven't really been pushing him to walk. We're starting to now though because it's obvious that Braden really wants to walk and it would be great if he could do it without me having to bend over holding his hands, it's a little exhausting. I'm hoping he'll at least take his first real steps by his birthday, which is in about 10 days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, except for when he grabs them and starts walking away with me.

Oh, on a side note. He just did the cutest thing. I was playing with him by putting a blanket over is head and saying "where's Braden?", then when I move it I say, "there he is". I did it a few times, then when I stopped he picked up the blanket and held it in front of his face. I didn't realize what he was doing at first and he just held it there. Then it came to me and I said "where's Braden?" and he threw the blanket down and started laughing. He's so smart.

Anyway, here are some pictures of him walking at the park with Jordan.

Baby Gracie

We got my C-section scheduled for June 25th at 12:00pm. Lets hope I don't go into labor before that. So far I've had two C-sections and neither were scheduled. It'd be nice to have a normal one just once.

Also, as you can see from the title, we've decided to name our baby girl Gracie. We don't have a middle name yet, hopefully we come up with one before she's born or she just may have to go without.

Also, Braden is getting really good at walking while holding onto someone, he's also started standing up on his own and for longer periods of time. He gets better every day, I hope he's starting to walk by his birthday, which is in less than two weeks I can't believe it. He's getting so big so fast, and Cailyn will be three only 10 days later. All my kids' birthdays are going to be within one month of each other, that's gonna be crazy when they're big enough to want their own birthday party. Luckily this year we can do a combined one for Cailyn and Braden.

It's a GIRL!!

Um, oops. I just realized that I haven't posted this yet, we've known for a while now. We are so excited to be having another baby girl. We don't have a name yet, so don't ask. We're really bad about waiting until we're really close before we decide on a name. We'll probably come up with a list of options and then ask people their opinions on what we should name her. That's what we did with Braden. Though, we'll pick the one that we like no matter what anyone says. It's just fun to hear everyone's opinion. Okay, now I'm rambling. Anyway, there you have it, we're having a girl. She's due on July 1st, though since I'll be having a c-section it will actually be about a week before that. I'll post as soon as we get the c-section date scheduled.

Everything's coming up tulips

Yesterday, Heather C. and I took our girls to the Woodburn Tulip Festival. 45 acres of over 100 varieties of tulips, Beautiful. It was so nice to go out together, and the girls loved all the flowers. They were also thrilled to see each other. It was also a great place for photos. I took tons of them, so brace yourself.

Easter

Yeah, I know I'm slow with my posting, but I had a lot of pictures to go through. Okay, so Easter was lots of fun, Cailyn had a great time. Poor little Braden was still sick and had a rough day, but he was a trooper and made it through without too much of a fuss, he actually slept a lot.

The night before, we went over to Jim & Heathers for egg decorating. All the Irwin's were there except for Brian and his family, so Cailyn got to see most of her Irwin cousins. She had a blast, even though you can't really tell by the look on her face.Easter morning, the kids got their Easter baskets. Cailyn knew the Easter bunny was bringing her candy so she woke up very happy. We let them eat candy for breakfast (terrible, I know), while I made some food to take to lunch/dinner. At noon, we headed back to Jim & Heathers for a full day of Easter fun. Heather had all kinds of activities planned for the kids. They had an Easter egg hunt(of course), egg races and a scavenger hunt. They also had a visit from the Easter Bunny/Peter Cottontail (aka, Uncle Jeff in a bunny suit). They called him Peter Cottontail but Cailyn only knows him as the Easter Bunny. After the activities were over the kids had lots of time to play. While the grown-ups played a card came, an Irwin classic I'm told, called Spite and Malice. I won my first round ever playing the game, I was pretty proud of myself. I played horribly after that. Beginers luck I suppose.

After cards we had a delicious meal. Heather makes awesome prime rib, super fantastic. Then there was more visiting and playing, and it was so hard to make Cailyn leave her cousins at the end of the day. Braden also got to spend some time with Grayson, his closest cousin in age. But they didn't really take much notice of each other, they're a little too young. All in all it was a great holiday for kids and parents alike. Here are some pictures of our fun filled day.

Some Easter Portraits, well the best I could get anyway. Sick baby and sugar high toddler don't make for great portraits.

Easter Egg Hunt (I love her hat). Papa Irwin helped her find the higher eggs.

Meeting the Easter Bunny, she wasn't so sure about him at first but she warmed up later on.

March Pictures

February Pictures