Past 2 months in Pictures

The grocery store had a christmas open house...

I think the development of the pictures clearly shows what Wyatt thinks about Santa

Of course Santa plays mini golf

Decorating some houses

Wyatt's daily ritual of pulling the pots out of the cubbard

Santa Barbara carousel. Dang I look fat... Im back to what I was before Christmas now. I hate that I gain and lose weight so easily

Ettoile was excited to see all the gifts... "for me?" she kept saying

The kids ate what Santa didn't...

Kids got a ball pit

and a jump castle

Ettoile loves Wyatt to death... so we have to keep an eye on her

airplane to Cali for Christmas... The cold water didn't stop Ettoile from enjoying the beach

Milpas is a strict requirement any time we're in Cali... locals know what I'm talkin 'bout

The beach wore the little guy out... really wore him out

he's such a ham

Papa and Grandma... and Ettoile doing her American Eagle pose

Tuckered out... you'll notice she can't sleep without "baby white" as she calls him. We have no idea how she came up with that name... especially since he's really more like a dingey gray color now

7 grandkids with 2 more coming this year... so far... sheesh

Maybe one of the best parts about being home for the holidays was being able to let the kids play outside

Wyatt's other daily ritual... playing with the farm. And no bedtime routine is complete without a book

bathtime fun and us at my work Christmas party

Wyatt was sleeping so just us three. Yes you can see the baby bump... Ettoile also claims to have a baby in her tummy. Sometimes she'll laydown on the bed next to Brittany and say "whew, this baby's gettin big."

Dance class disaster. "Twinkle twos." She loved everything about dance class except for... the dancing... we'll probably try it one more time

We don't know where she gets her expressions. The kids LOVE swimming

Ettoile found some pirate treasure at Preston's B-Day party

Wyatt and Damien hung out most of the day and Etty was super pouty the first hour until finally she broke down... all she wanted all morning was to sit next to Preston at the party. She was so sad... once she got next to her cousin she was a peach

car ride home from Preston and Damien's house

Baby #3

Baby's profile and baby's feet.

One where you can see the bones in Baby's fingers and another foot.

"The thinker." Baby has it's hand on it's head.

...And no I don't know what the gender is.

Baby is 22 weeks... The c-section is scheduled for June 16th.

We were lucky to get what pictures we did... this baby is a maniac. The ultrasound tech had a hard time getting all of the measurements, baby was too active.

Surprise! We are having another baby!!!


The Story
We have been discussing the possibility of having another baby for quite some time, really teetering on the fence. I felt we should have one more child and Brittany didn't at first, possibly because of the two difficult pregnancy/ birthing experiences she has already had. While we have no issues getting pregnant, most of you know that Brittany's only option for birthing is via c-section... which unless you have had and recovered from a c-section, it is hard to comprehend the difficulty and long recovery time associated, as well as the lasting effects on the mothers body and health (Ettoile was an emergency 'crash' c-section, and Wyatt was scheduled by our specialist's recommendation). We came to the conclusion that if we were to have another baby then now would be the time. We prayed about it and felt strongly that although it may be a difficult journey, for Brittany especially, our family was lacking one more member and this was the right choice for our family.

On the flipside, we also felt very strongly that after this pregnancy, we will not be having any more children. SO...

The Kicker: Announcing to my family... Post Vasectomy...
Because Brittany is unable to keep secrets she told her family at about 2 months into the pregnancy. I on the otherhand did not tell my family. I did however, tell my family I would be scheduling a vasectomy, which was performed on December 10th (It's not bad at all, the worst part is just the anxiety and nervousness beforehand. There is little to no pain except for the initial anesthetic injection and I would compare that to less painful than novicaine at the dentist... once that parts over you feel nothing and the whole thing is over in about 10-15 minutes).

I'm certain that our decision was met with some confusion and sadness but it was always our decision to make. I never lied to anyone... I just chose not to fully disclose that when I said we had been blessed with enough children, we had already been pregnant for a while. I apologize for leading anyone on. My mom especially.

We didnt have any spectacular way of telling my parents once we got to Cali for the holidays... Brittany is in her 2nd trimester already and it's almost noticable... she's quite petite so any sort of "bump," is going to be noticed right away.

So far so Good...
Brittany is now almost 15 weeks along and has an estimated due date of June 10th. We'll have a more accurate date on January 8th at the ultrasound. This pregnancy will be a bit painful because she has adhesions from the previous surgeries scar tissue. This can only be corrected by surgery making this next c- section a little more difficult than the previous 2. We are happy and excited to welcome baby #3 into our home!

Weekend...

Here's our weekend in pictures. We went to Preston's Pirate B-Day Party.

The drive up to Minneapolis.

Yes we kept his mohawk... it's awesome.

Ettoile didn't want to be a pirate... she chose "Cinderella" for her pirate name.

Ettoile found a treasure on the treasure hunt.

Wyatt will follow Ettoile anywhere... Ettoile loves to hold Wyatt's hand but she goes too fast so Wyatt usually faceplants. It's a love-hate relationship.

Kids had a blast at the pool... Ettoile strikein a pose.

Ettoile had her "twinkle twos" dance recital... she decided that she didn't want to dance that day.

She stood in her spot the whole time and just watched the other girls dance. Money well spent.

Walkin...

Actually, Wyatt has been walking for about a month+ now... we just suck at updating our blog. He's now about 70% walking 30% crawling. He knows he's a fast little crawler so he gets lazy sometimes. If you listen closely... Ettoile's in the background telling us not to clap for Wyatt. She loves sharing in others accomplishments.

Trick or treat

Lft to rt: Collin (Dragon), Anya (Strawberry), Wyatt (Dragon), Ettoile (Unicorn). This was the best picture we were able to get of the four kids together...

Daddy pushin the kiddies door to door. Sit N Stand stroller was a trooper.

Wyatt had a good tine just watching the rest of the kids... We thought Ettoile wasn't going to last very long but she ended up being upset that we didn't stay out later. I think we went about 1.5 miles total... she walked/ ran for about 3/4 of the time.

Deisha and Sharra (Britt's sisters) holding the 'dozer' and a random picture of the kids eating dinner... Wyatt lounges and puts his feet up when he's eating. He's super messy so we've resorted to eating in just a diaper... we even have to watch that he doesnt start taking Ettoiles food.

Ettoile's daily dress up routine, the tiara is never forgotten... this is her "cinneralla dreshs" (translated: cinderella dress) you can kind of see Wyatt's mohawk in the background. Jason helped me... I think it's awesome... even Britt said he can keep it... for a bit.

Ettoile riding into the sunset... tiara, cinneralla dress, and rainbow haired pony at her side.

Just a couple quick pics...

Just the kiddies doin what they do best... playing.

They love their tunnel from Grandma Luna... IKEA has cool stuff.

Bath crayons... We wont be buying those again... The marks dont come clean as easy as it claims.