The Norvell Family

Cousin Time!!

2009-05-08T14:24:00.012-05:00

I know, shocking, first I post pictures and now I'm writing a post. My little niece is in town from now until the end of July and today I am watching her while Kristin paints her sisters room.. My girls were so very excited that Kaelin was coming over today to play. Since it's already a sizzling 90 degrees here in the Lone Star state we filled up the baby pool and had at it. They enjoyed themselves for about 15 min, then got on the trampoline for about 6 minutes and played ring around the rosey. They all enjoyed that but I think Kaelin had the best time, although she was hesitant at first.. I'm attaching some pictures, hope you enjoy.

Tomorrow we are going to have our family portraits taken and then some individuals of Rylee for her birthday pictures and for Katey's 3 month pictures. I'm sure we will get some of Olivia too- don't worry!!

We have an action packed weekend with it being Mother's Day and all but I will post again next week! Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms!

Better late than never, right?

2009-05-08T13:44:00.003-05:00

I'm not very good at this!

2009-05-01T21:35:00.004-05:00

Ok, ok so as the title states, I'm not very good at keeping this blog updated, but its hard work staying home with 3 kids, 2 of whom fight with each other all day LONG.. I'm not even kidding when I say they fight like true girls already. If it's this bad at 5 and 2.5 what will it be like when they are teenagers?? They scream, they kick, they scratch and pull each others hair like no other.

On a lighter note, Rylee celebrated her 5th birthday this past Monday!! Where have these past 5 years gone?? Geesh.. We had her party last Saturday, the 25th at Inflatable Zone and she had a blast. It was very early in the morning, 9 a.m. to be exact and I want to thank everyone who attended and woke up extra early so that they could be there to celebrate with us. It meant alot to me and even more to Rylee.. She got lots of cool presents and had just about everything ripped opened within the first hour of being home.. Typical kid! The plan for her actual birthday was to have the grandparents over for the dinner of Rylee's choice-spaghetti. Sounds like a good idea,right? Or not! We were expecting some rain, but I don't think anyone expected the small tsunami we were soon going to get. Her dinner was postponed until Tuesday night and it really was an excellent night. Both families really enjoyed the others company (well at least I know one side did)and the dinner came out pretty good as well, if I do say so myself. The menu included spaghetti and meat sauce, italian sausage, salad and garlic bread (ok so it's no gourmet meal, but it was still good and its what the birthday girl wanted.) For dessert Nannie got Rylee a cookie cake, Nana made a strawberry cake and I got Papa a no sugar added apple pie, I didn't want him to feel left out of the best part of a meal, would you? All in all it was a great finish to her birthday.

Backing up to Sunday we attended a beautiful dedication. He is the son of my bestie. ( A bestie is a best friend for those of you who are reading this that have no idea what that means.) We had such a good time and it meant so much to me that we were invited to be part of his special day. Getting up and out the door was not an easy task but I'm so glad we did. I really enjoyed going to church with my family and hope we do it more often. Thanks again bestie for inviting my family!!

Let's see what else happend this week thats worth noting, oh yeah, little Livie.. My darling little Livie.. Chris put Olivia to bed and all was well, so we thought. Then we hear Rylee screaming saying Livie pooped.. No big deal right, she has a diaper on. WRONG! We go upstairs to find Livie's diaper hanging by a tab, poop on her and on several toys and worst of all smeared in the carpet. Aren't kids great?? LOL. If there is one thing I'm sure of it will be the great stories we will get to share with Olivia when she gets older.

Katey Reese is doing great also. She is starting to finally sleep at night. Actually, she has been for a few weeks now. She will usually wake up between 5-6 in the morning and always goes back to sleep for a few more hours. Ahh, how nice. Too bad I still feel run over in the mornings. This too shall pass, hopefully..

I am also very bad with uploading my pictures to my computer but I promise I will do it this week and post some new pics of everyone soon.

Have a great weekend.

Lauren

It's been a while!

2009-03-17T13:38:00.012-05:00

Wow, it’s been 6 weeks since I last blogged, which means my little Katey Reese is already 6 weeks old. They grow way too fast. Life has been exhausting these last 6 weeks getting used to having a new baby around. She still has her nights and days all messed up, she sleeps all day and is more awake when I'm ready for bed… Every now and then I will get a decent night sleep out of her... Katey is a very good baby. The only time she cries is when she is hungry... Speaking of hungry, we have a little piggy on our hands. This girl can eat, although you really wouldn't know it... I mean she is by no means huge, but can already eat up to 5-6 oz. Yowza! We have had a few doctors’ appointments and everything is absolutely wonderful with her. Our 2 month checkup is April 2. At her one month appt, she was 9 lbs 6.5 oz and 22 inches long.

In other news, we had kindergarten orientation last week for Rylee. I can't believe my first born is already getting ready to start school. I can still remember being in the hospital with her...Where does the time go? She is very excited to be going to the BIG school in August and liked going with Chris and I to the orientation. I'm really excited to go school clothes shopping with her this summer!! Now, if only we can figure out how to get her to go to sleep at a normal hour. Right now her and Olivia share a room and have bunk beds- the other night we put them to bed at 8:30 (normally they go to bed at different times) and they were being themselves, arguing, playing, and crying until 12 AM!!! What?!? I don't know how to get that girl to relax and go to bed like normal almost 5 year olds! Any suggestions??

I also came up with a "behavior chart" for Rylee so she could start getting used to things she will have to do once school starts (yes, I think it will take from now until August to get her in a pattern). I wrote a list of chores that she is supposed to complete every night before bed like taking her bath, brushing her teeth and hair, and picking up her toys and if she gets a sticker each day for each chore we told her every week she could get a reward of her choice. Well, she doesn't seem to care to much about getting a prize because it’s been 2 weeks and she has not received a prize yet. Build a bear was going to be last week’s prize, but that never happened. This girl is something else!!

Olivia is just the same. My feisty little girl. The things that she says crack me up, or more so how she says things... Talk about independent, holy cow does she have a mind of her own... Her and Rylee fight all the time, but then play fine together 5 minutes later, but let me just say that this little 2 1/2 year old is usually the one making Rylee cry and not the other way around. This kid is so mean but also so sweet and lovable.

I'm attaching some pictures in no particular order. Enjoy and I will try to post more often!!

Last Baby Appointment 1/28/09

2009-01-28T15:58:00.000-06:00

Well, today marks the last baby or OB appointment I will ever have. It went exactly as they have been-normal! Everything is great with both baby and myself. (If you don't count the 3 lbs I gained in ONE week, but she thinks its due to some swelling) All together I gained 30-31 lbs, which is actually pretty good! My blood pressure I think was 120/80 and little girls heart rate was 139. It hung around 140 the entire pregnancy. Still, no progress. She must be awfully comfortable no matter how uncomfortable I am. Dr. Thayer said she could still push the baby out of my pelvis which means she is not "engaged" yet. Lucky for me, it doesn't matter since ready or not she is making her debut this Monday. Woo-hoo. We can't wait to meet our third and final little girl. Rylee is just beside herself, and Olivia is just too little to really comprehend whats going on. You ask her where the baby is and she lifts up HER shirt. But really she knows a baby is in my belly! So, that's it for now. We go to the hospital Monday morning at 5:30 a.m. for a scheduled c-section at 7:30 a.m. I'm actually getting a little nervous, yes- I have been through it before but it still is a surgery and I'm still scared no matter what! Wish us luck!

My little pistol.. aka Olivia

2009-01-28T12:14:00.001-06:00

Well, I finally caught her, it was with my phone so again the picture quality isn't great but there she is... Excuse the mess on her face and the mess on her little chair. As girly as she is-- she is one messy little diva!

Rylee- January 2009

2009-01-26T09:37:00.000-06:00

Well, I tried getting pictures of both my girls this weekend, but only one actually smiles on demand while the other will say cheese and then look the other way before I can get her picture. Here are some photos of Rylee, as they were taken from my cell phone so the quality isn't great.

The first picture is a typical Rylee picture with a tank top and a headband. The kid loves headbands and tanks and can usually be found always wearing one or the other if not both!!!!

Saturday afternoon, our neighbor came over to play with Rylee. The second picture tells what they were playing or playing with. I have nothing to worry about, right? 4yr olds typically like to wear makeup don't they? I think its safe to say I have many, long years ahead of me...

Enjoy!

1/21/09 Update

2009-01-22T09:36:00.001-06:00

Well, I went back to the doctor for one of my last weekly appointments, and guess what? You guessed it, everything is the exact same. This kid is just very comfortable and has no intention of coming out on her own, so it seems. Guess she knows she is coming out on the 2nd, so shes in no rush to meet her big sisters, or her mom and dad. Stubborn kid!! However, I gained no weight within the week which is good news for me, so the 5 lb gain I had last week in 2 weeks, just doesn't seem so bad now. 5 lbs in 3 weeks, that's ok-right? My blood pressure was good and her heart rate was 140, which is where it has been the entire time. Baby is still high, and I have not started to dilate. Go figure. I go back again next Wednesday at 9:45 and that will be my last OB appt before the little one arrives the following Monday. It will actually be the last OB appointment forever!

Rylee and Olivia are doing good, just the same as always. The only problems we do have with the girls are their sleeping habits. Rylee could stay awake to midnight if we let her, and lately Olivia hasn't wanted to go to sleep either. Which makes for a rough, long night and these days, I don't need any help with making the nights any longer and more miserable. Chris and I have got to figure something out about bedtime patterns long before summer gets here so that Rylee gets a good night sleep for school this year when she starts in August. Anyone have any cool tricks on putting kids to bed at a decent hour where they don't fight you? Another update coming soon!! I will also try to take some new pictures of the kids and post them on here for everyone to see. They are getting sooo big!!!

xo

Doctor's Appointment 1/15/09

2009-01-16T08:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I had my doctors appointment yesterday and everything seemed to go really well. I had my very last ultrasound so that she could see the position of the baby and just how big of a baby we are dealing with here.. Well, I never seem to disappoint. As of right now, the estimated weight for the baby is 7 lbs 2 oz. Geesh, and I have another 2 weeks or so to go, which means another pound or 2 more. We could also see this baby has quite the amount of hair. When the ultrasound technician pressed on my belly, you could actually see her hair "floating" from the back of her neck. (This explains the small fire in the back of my throat almost 24/7, aka heartburn) Oh, and little porky pig over here gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks! Yowza! Seriously?? How is that even possible? The funny thing is, Dr. Thayer complimented me on how well I have done with my weight gain. HA! She said I have done an excellent job and could have easily gained alot more but have done just great! Total weight gain so far has been 28lbs. I also got instructions to be at the hospital on 2/2 at 5:30 a.m. for my 7:30 a.m. c-section, and got some post-partum instructions... I go back again on Wednesday and then have only one more appointment after that!! Wow!

Rylee and Olivia are doing good. Same old same old. I try and pick up constantly (nesting much?) and they have it torn to shreds again in seconds. Last night, poor Olivia got so mad that she couldn't wear her favorite nightgown again (it was dirty, she doesn't like to ever take it off) that she actually flipped over the coffee table in our living room. Strong much? Other than that, not much else is new. Will post again soon! Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo

1/12/09

2009-01-12T11:39:00.000-06:00

Hi All,

Sorry it took me a few days to do another post, but I was waiting to "decorate" my blog before writing again and finally I was able to do just that! Hope you like it as much as I do. Of course I still want to add more but baby steps, right?

Not much to update. This weekend we hung around like normal. My mom took Rylee and Olivia to the movies to see The Tale of Despereaux. From what mom says, Rylee was a little confused on what the movie was actually about and Olivia slept through more than half of it!! Mom taking the kids for the afternoon allowed for Chris and I to have some alone time together. We went on a "date" to a local Italian restaurant called Antonia's. It was very good.

Only 21 more days until the new baby is scheduled to arrive on
2-2-09 at 7:30 in the morning. Let's just say I am more than ready to meet this baby girl. My next doctors appointment is this Thursday at 3:00 for one last ultrasound so that Dr. Thayer can get an idea of how big she is and her position. I will post an update of the appointment to let everyone know whats going on as soon as I can. Have a good week!

For real?

2009-01-08T14:45:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is. My first post on my brand new blog. I'm not real sure what I am doing, so bare with me as I learn the ropes of blogging. I read tons of blogs a day and thought I really should start one, so here it is. Check back often for updates of whats going on in the Norvell household.