Visit With Family

My family has planned to come visit us for a while now. Finally the day came that they traveled the 15 hours by car to get here. We were so happy to see them. It is nice to be within driving distance as it makes it easier for them to visit me too. Right away we could tell we had a house full of kids. It was a good sound to hear kids playing and Summer being entertained.

Summer skate boarding with her cousin Dakota. This is her version of skate boarding I guess because it feels safe.

We took my family to Lynn Canyon to see one of the suspension bridges and to walk around in the woods/rainforest.

We came across this huge slug. Summer thought it was great.

Friday while Philip took Summer and the boys to the aquarium we headed over to Vancouver Island. This is the line for the ferry on the way home. It was actually really fun to ride the ferry because none of us had ever experienced it before. Plus it was really pretty.

Once on the island we headed over to Buchart Gardens which are so fabulous. It was so beautiful and nice to see. I am sure my mom was in heaven. She absolutely loves gardening and planting flowers.

Just one small view of some of the many flower gardens there. I love the bright colored ones.

When I saw these flowers the first thing that popped into my head was that they reminded me of the huge roaches we see in the South. A much prettier roach, but still a roach to me.

My mom and sister Kody. Neither of them wanted their picture taken, but I made them anyways.

This pictures is pure motivation for me to start exercising now that I can. I nice background, and I love my family. We are just missing my older sister Kori. Maybe next time she can make it.

The kids were anxious to head to the beach. It was a really nice day that day, however, by the time we made it to the beach it turned windy and overcast. The kids were still determined to play in the water.

Kiowa enjoying the cold water. He really spent a lot of his time shooting the seagulls with water.

Enjoying the sun covered by the clouds.

After the boys buried each other this is what they looked like. I am sure they both had sand in their nose and mouth.

Sandy kids.

On their last night here Summer decided to play salon. My mom and sister were the guinea pigs.

Aren't they beautiful.

I can't thank them enough for coming. It was so good to see them and also to have so much help with the baby. Summer already misses having kids to play with non stop. I look forward to going there sometime hopefully soon.

Brayden Cruz Harvey

Well, he is finally here. Brayden Cruz Harvey was born via c-section on June 16, 2011. Brayden He is the first to be born in Canada and the first to stay with me in the hospital room the whole time I recovered.

Here he is minutes after birth. It was nice to hear his little cry. Philip and I were overcome with tears of joy to see our healthy baby boy. Many memories flooded our minds as we were there in the OR welcoming our second son. We could not have asked for anything more perfect.

Here he is being weighed. He came in at 3.58 kilograms which converted to pounds is 7 lbs 14 0z. He was 20 inches long or 50.8 centimeters. Fortunately they did the conversions for me because otherwise I would have been in the OR doing math to figure it out.

Finally after cleaning, weighing, and all other things they finally brought him to me and layed him across my chest. This was such a wonderful moment.

Next Philip and Brayden went to the nursery for father son time while I went to the recovery room for what seemed like forever. I was there for about 2 hours when finally I could move my toes and they let me go to my room to hold and feed the baby.

A few moments later Summer's little feet entered the room and she was smiling from ear to ear. She was so excited to see her new baby brother. She loved holding him for the first time, and even had natural instincts to bounce the baby when he cried.

Brayden got his first bath in the hospital. I already know he does not like baths, getting his diaper changed, or getting undressed. He likes his clothes to stay put. He really reminds me of Summer when she was a baby. Summer thinks he looks just like Scott. I took out her baby pictures and I think they look very similar.

Finally at home! We were so ready to finally come home and have a comfortable bed along with comfortable couches and better food. I am grateful however to all the nurses for the help they were. It is always nice to ask them all my questions while I am there. It has been so long since having a baby at home that I was full of questions to ask.

We had to keep socks on his hands because he kept scratching his face and I never made the effort to buy little mittens.

Here he is sleeping.

Still Sleeping.

Again still sleeping.

In fact he sleeps great until about 1:00 am when he finally decides it is time to wake up and stay up for a while. I am finally getting use to him waking up and needing to be fed. Somehow mothers are blessed to make it through the next day with little sleep. I love life with my kids and I am so happy that our baby is finally here. There is so much joy that comes from a tiny little baby. I hope to take it all in and spend as much time with him as possible before he grows too much.

Philip, Summer, and I could not be more happy than we are right now.

Summer Turns Six/ Cake Boss (or not)

To start off Summer's birthday we woke her up early before Philip left for work and gave her breakfast in bed. She was tired, but very grateful since she love breakfast in bed.

Later that day Philip planned to leave work early so we could take Summer out to dinner and spend time with her. Well, he did leave early only to get stuck on the train that broke down in between stations. So, Summer went outside and waited for him anxiously while playing on the playground.

Finally after waiting for two hours on the train Philip informed us that it was moving again and that we should meet him at the train station so he did not have to take a bus to get home.

After picking him up we went for a late dinner at Red Robin. Summer likes that place so she was happy. Philip explained to our waitress about the interesting experience on the train and on Summer's birthday.

Later they came out and sang happy birthday to her. As you can see she is very shy and doesn't like attention. She was looking away the whole time.

After they left this is the look on her face when she saw what they had brought her. A huge ice cream cake. She later explained to her grandma that it was as big as her head. She was in ice cream heaven.

Just before going to bed she finally got to open a few gifts. She has been wanting a gum ball machine for some time now so we finally got her one.

We also upgraded her to a bigger bike. Unfortunately it wasn't put together, however, she seemed pleased with it.

Since Summer's birthday was on a weeknight we decided to celebrate with the family on Saturday. Her favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs so that is what we served. This was her first birthday outside of Texas and outside of the US. The first one near family too.

Summer and Abby making a birds nest outside. They have a lot of fun together.

Everyone enjoying themselves.

Grandma Harvey enjoying her grandchildren.

On to the Cake!

About three years ago while I was pregnant and about to have Scott I tried to cover a cake in fondant for Summer's birthday. It was a nightmare and I decided that I would stick to cupcakes from then on. Well there must be something about being pregnant because this year I got ambitious and decided we should try making a Tangled cake. I love watching the Cake Boss and he makes everything look so easy. So I thought I would give it a whirl. Well it turned into a whirlwind. Here is my process.

First Summer and I went to the cake shop and picked out a bunch of candies and sprinkles for the cake. That was fun. I also bought two round pans that are super nice and I love. So, Friday I began by baking and baking cakes all day.

Well then I prepared the bottom of the cake, then the tower, and finally the top of the tower where Repunzel like to look out of the window. Each piece started taking shape and for a first timer I thought I had done fairly well.

Philip surprised me that night with tickets to see Wicked. I was so excited, but unfortunately the cake had to be put on hold.

The next morning is when I actually decorated the tower and the top tower. I was getting so excited to finally be done and to have a Cake Boss master piece.

I got about this far with the tower attached to the bottom of the cake. I then tried putting the top part on and right away realized it was not going to stay. I thought and thought of what to do. So I finally figured it out and put the top on. It stayed and I went to wash my hands off. I was so excited until I returned to the cake to find that the top and a huge chunk of the tower had fallen off. All that work! Well I salvaged the tower and tried to salvage the top by redoing the roof. It doesn't look nearly as good, but at this point I didn't care. Oh, and if you look below I made sure to give Repunzel some Utah hair nice and big.

So I set the top on a separate plate to display the cake part way finished. When it was time to sing we then put the top on and I held it in place while we got a few pictures and sang to Summer.

So, some lessons I have learned are:

1. I am not the Cake Boss nor do I think he would ever hire me.

2. I think I liked making the bottom round part so much I want to make my own birthday cake next month.

3. I love the cake pans I purchased.

4. Although it was time consuming and the cake never stood on its own longer than 3 minutes I will not give up and stick to cupcakes only.

5. Maybe I will take a cake class.

It was a good birthday and we are so proud to have Summer in our family. I can't believe she is six. It kind of makes me feel old. Now we can count down four more days to celebrate the birth of our new baby boy, and the day after that Scott's 3rd birthday.

Preparing for Baby

We have started the count down to the arrival of baby #3. We are all so excited. Here is a countdown chain that Summer made. The pink ones are the number of chains left until her 6th birthday. The seven extra ones at the end are the countdown until the baby will be born. If we would have added one more chain that would bring us to Scott's 3rd birthday. June is a busy month for us. So, I have a scheduled c-section on June 16th. The doctor wanted it to be on the 17th, but I explained that is Scott's special day. Anyhow, we are super excited, and now we get to celebrate all three birthdays very close together.

As Philip and I prepare for the baby to arrive we have gone shopping for some things. I set this little bouncer thing up and told Philip that I bet as soon as Summer sees it she will grab her dolls and put it in there. I was right. She noticed it the next day and I found her in the baby's room playing with it. She then noticed a bassinet in our room and ran to get her doll. She is so excited. Yesterday she even helped me put up the new crib. Our last crib was recalled and the company is out of business so we decided to play it safe and get a new one.
The other day she came in and said look at my baby in my belly. Of course the balloon inside her shirt made her fit right in.

She wanted to take a picture of my baby in my belly too. Yikes I am huge.

Anyhow, we are getting ready and looking forward to him finally coming. I told Philip that these last days are going to go by so slow because I just can't wait. He said I should be patient because once he is here I will be even more exhausted and want to hand the baby off to someone. I don't care, I just look forward to meeting him.

Well, I have also been busy making a bunch of things for the baby. Unfortunately I left it to the last couple months and now it is way harder to bend down on the floor if I need to. You can check out some of the things on my craft blog.

I will most likely be posting a few pictures of the baby on facebook since I can do it on my phone. The blog will have to wait until after I get home because I don't think Philip knows how to post on here.

Summer Enjoying Life in Canada

Summer has been enjoying life here in Canada. She really misses her friends in Houston and asks about them almost everyday. However, she has found plenty of things to do in order to keep busy and have fun.

The other day she came down and showed me how she put a leotard on her penguin. She thought it was so great that they could have matching dress ups.

A few minutes later I found her in the living room playing gymnastics with her stuffed animals. She was the coach of course. She taught them all the things she use to do in gymnastics back in Houston.

Moments like this make me smile, and grab the camera. She is creative and loves her animals.

She has also been spending time with her cousin who lives very close. They had fun yesterday enjoying the nice weather outside.

They found a dead lady bug so Summer asked her cousin if she wanted to put the lady bug in heaven. Summer made a sign and they went out to burry the bug. Translation of the sign, "Dead Lady bug be gentle."

Today Grandma Harvey came over with some flowers to plant with Summer. I was delighted because Summer had so much fun, we have lots of flowers, and I didn't have to bend over with my big prego belly to plant them. Summer wasn't too thrilled to see me taking pictures.

Summer relaxing while Grandma does all the work. Still making Grandma slave away.

Finally she gets in there and finishes off by watering the flowers. It will be fun to see them bloom. She also planted a flower my mom gave her last year for her birthday. Now she finally gets to watch it grow.

Anyways, there you have it some adventures from Summer.

Roaches!

You know you have lived in the South for a while when your five year old daughter mistakes a bin full of dates at the grocery store for a bin full of cockroaches.

That is one thing I don't miss about Houston. Thankfully we did not ever see as many as all of these dates, but we did see a few every summer. Anyhow, I thought it was really funny that she actually thought they were roaches. Thankfully they are not, but they do look a little unappetizing.

Unrelated to roaches is the picture below.

In the morning Summer likes to come in my room and watch some cartoons which is fine by be because it means I can sleep a little bit longer. For now anyways. I had to take a picture of this when I saw it because it was so cute. She has so much concern for her penguin and barbie that she shared her blanket with them while they all watch cartoons together.

I sure do love her.