I'm Back

So last year about this time I got into a total funk and decided that I hated my blog. It was never good enough and I felt like I couldn't keep it up as nice as everyone else did, so I quit. Since I've been on Facebook, I've realized that I missed it. So I'm doing it again with a new perspective. I have accepted the fact that I am a mother of three little kids, I work part time, and I have a very busy life so it WONT be perfect. I will just do my best and that will have to be good enough. I am not going to go back and blog about all the stuff I missed during this past year. I will just briefly catch up, post some pics from the last year and move on.

The biggest news I have to share about the past year is that we added a new addition on February 28th, Makayla Jean. She is such a great baby and I feel totally blessed that she is apart of our lives.
Once we knew I was expecting, we started looking for a bigger house. Luckily we found one close by in a neighborhood that we fell in love with. We moved in right before Thanksgiving and are really enjoying ourselves here. Our pool should hopefully be in by the beginning of next month and we can't wait.
Other news, I got a new job at KU Med Center. I love that as well. I still work at Saint Luke's, I just divide my time between both.

This is a picture of me last June on my birthday. I am posting it as proof that I did lose my baby weight from Andrea. I am actually 5 weeks pregnant here.

June 2009 Girls Camp Pics on the Big Muddy (Missouri River). This was my forth time going on this trip and it is always a blast. I don't know why they keep asking me to go, I know there are so many qualified people in our church that could easily take my place. I just love my time with the girls and it is such a spiritual experience for all that is involved. We start out at Kaw Point in Kansas City, Kansas and make our way over to St. Louis camping along the way. We have fun adventures at each camp site and each trip is unique. When we pull out at St. Charels and make our way to the St. Louis temple where we spend a few hours doing baptisms. This camp is so me, I love every bit of it. It totally made up for all the crappy camps I want when I was a kid.

4th of July 2009. We were at my parents house and it rained that night. So we watched the annual Country Club Fireworks show in our cars then went home and let the kids fire off fire crackers in the garage. It actually was a lot of fun.

August 2009 Family Vaca to San Clemente CA. I wasn't able to make the 2008 Beach Vaca because I had just had Andrea. So my parents rented another beach house and invited us to join them for the week. We stayed in a condo about a block from the beach. The weather was perfect. We got up early each morning and enjoyed a long walk on the beach. Tom and I took Brycen to Sea World and we lost him in the kids play area. It was the scariest 30 minutes of my life. Tom and Dad also took Brycen on a train ride up the coast, he was so excited. Brian and Kass came and joined us the last part of the week. So much fun, so many good memories.

Our new house. When we found out that I was pregnant with #3 we decided to start looking for a bigger home. We were so lucky to find one close by in a neighborhood that we love. Driving out to the house gives the impression like you are out in the sticks, but really it is only 3 miles away from Wal-Mart and the highway. We love the location. Our neighborhood pool is being built right now and should be done sometime next month. We put a contract on house first without any contingency at the end of September and then put our house on the market. Pretty risky I know. The kids and I moved in with my parents as we tried to sell our old house. We were very fortunate that we had a contract on it by the end of October. Everything was final by the end of November. The following week after that I started my new job at KU Med Center. At this time I was just starting the 7th month of my pregnancy. I was worked full-time in December then 50-60 hours a week in January. By the time I was 9 months I worked 2-3 shifts a week, much better then where I had been. A very stressful time for me. But I was really glad to have gotten that out of the way before Makayla came.

Halloween 2009. Andrea is a Lion and Brycen is a Purple Dinosaur. I felt very resourceful this year. Since we were moving and I was crazy busy and pregnant I dressed Andrea in Brycen's old costume and put Brycen in the same one he was in last year. I hope I'm not a bad mom.

Christmas 2009. At my mom's as usual. Brycen's big gift from Santa was a bike and Andrea's was a play kitchen. Tom and I got each other a new house, appliances, and everything else that comes with that!

Super Cute pick one morning before church. Got to love the tree the kids decorated in the background.

Makayla was Due February 24th. I had an emergent C-section with Andrea so I was hoping to have a v-back (vaginal birth after c-section) this time around. Every week I went to the doctor I anticipated good news--never did I get it. I was never dilated and never effaced. So the day I was due I crossed my fingers and went to my appointment. Again, not even dilated to a one. My choices were c-section in two days or wait another week and most likely a c-section then. So I got up at 4 am, Friday the 26th to and got to the hospital by 6am. I know an emergent c-section is never an ideal situation, but I would have taken that over a planned section. I was very fortunate to have one of my very good friends be my nurse and take me to the delivery room. She helped deliver my baby and was such a blessing through the whole process. This really opened my eyes to what my patients go through everyday on my unit. She was a healthy baby 7lbs 2 ozs and 20 1/2 inches. Such a great baby. These pics were taken right after she was born.

Makayla was blessed on May 1st 2010. My mother-in-law came down for the big occasion. Makayla was blessed in a vintage dress that my great-grandmother made for her children. I feel so lucky to have it. The other pic is of my sister Heather.

Happy Birthday Andrea (2010). The big #2.

Happy Mother's day (2010)! What a blessed mother I am to have three beautiful children. I didn't want to post any fat pictures of me, but my kids are too cute not to. It will be gone soon anyway.

Welcome Home Taylor. The last weekend of May 2010. Taylor came home from his two year mission that he served in Spain and the Canary Islands. We missed him so much!

Kansas Spring Time

So in between some 60-70 degree weather, we had a blizzard. The snow was here one day and gone the next. I worked the night before so I woke up about 2 pm to thick, wet snow flakes falling from the sky. I told daddy that he needed to take Brycen out and make a snow man. As soon as I said that Brycen was so excited, dad wasn't to sure. But I couldn't resist his enthusiasm so I started to get Brycen all geared up. I had almost put all of his snow gear away, but just hadn't done it yet. So he was ready to go. They had a lot of fun. The following day was Sunday. By the time we ate lunch the head was off the Snowman and by the end of the day most of the snow was gone. All that was left was some of the snow man and the giant snowball dad made. Monday morning while Brycen was eating breakfast, he looked out the window and said, "Where's the snow man, it's gone". Yes, it had completely disappeared over night.

Brycen making a snow ball

Brycen helping dad make the snow man.

Sometimes I really wonder about him

Tom starting to roll the biggest snowball ever made.

Rolling...

and rolling...

and rolling. He got stuck right about here, and I had to jump in and push it a little ways.

Brycen Standing on the biggest snow ball.

Another fun day with daddy. The flakes were starting up again so they called it a day. Brycen had so much. He loves snowmen, so I am so glad he had a chance to make one with dad.

Kid Crazy

I have a good friend that got pregnant about the same time I did. It was a lot of fun going through all the joys of pregnancy together. We get together on occasion and have a play date.
On March 7th we did just that and had a lot of fun. Tyler and Brycen are 2 years and Gaven and Andrea are 7 months and 10 months.

Zoo Times

So on Feb 22, we had some really nice whether. Totally not the norm for Kansas. I think it got to the upper 60's to low 70's. My good friends Olivia, Jenni, and I went to the Zoo. Olivia makes this trip regularly so she knew all the stops and routes in the zoo, so we saw a lot in a short amount of time.

Here are some pic's of the more memorable moments:

The First stop was the Stop was the Sea lion show. Very cute.

Next we saw the ring-tailed lemur. One of the animals from Madagascar.

What's up King Julian!

There are some little monkeys blended into the back ground. They were so much fun to watch. One was a total ham, jumping here and there and everywhere. My brother Taylor, who is on a mission now in Spain, had a run in with these kind of monkeys at the Rock of Gibraltar.

Here is that monkey jumping on his ball-swing.

Here I go!

Bye-Bye Mommy!

I am sure there is some unwritten rule that you can't make fun of your own child. So, I am not going to say a word.

Jen and Olivia avoiding the camera.

Mia and Brycen

Jack and Andrea

Reese, Mia, and Bob.

Here was a pair of Mommy and Baby arangatangs. We started to act silly and sing the Jungle Book song....I'm the king of the swings oh, the jungle VIP..

Brycen, exploring the tall grass. Hunting for some pray. Ready to spring like a Tiger. Rarrrr!

Mia, Brycen, and Aiden trudging around in the African Terain like a wild Lion!

Random Cute Pics From the Last few Months

Ok, so my kids are growing up so fast I can't believe it.
What is life like in the Bollwitt house right now.

Well, we are trying to potty train Brycen. He will be 2 1/2 in one week. So I went today and bought him Big Boy underwear and some prizes for going pee pee in the potty. He is at this stage where he will ask for one thing and right when you give it to him he will sequel in content and demand another. So then, when you accommodate him with his request, he will start to sequel and holler again for the first item. Then round and round we go. It is very frustrating. So when he says he will get on the potty, we go upstairs, get undressed, and just about when we sit on the potty he cries, "NOOOOO!"
The JOY of it all.

Well Andrea is getting to be quite the crawler now. She can get up on all fours now and do a real crawl instead of the army crawl she was only able to do before. Her hair is getting so long. Most of the time I have it up in a pony tail. We have been working with her on sign language and she was starting to sign back, but we are not sure if she really understands the meaning behind it all. She loves to clap and give daddy high five's. Any time we yell, "Yeah" she whips out her hands and starts clapping as if we commanded her to do so.
Yes, life is crazy, but who would have it any other way.

The following two pics were taken in February. Tom whipped out the camera one Saturday cause he thought I hadn't been taking enough pictures (which I haven't). Just to document how cute they are.

The rest were taken in January. We spend a lot of time in our PJ's around here. I know it will change when it gets warmer out cause we will be playing outside. But when it is cold an we have no place to go, what can be more comfortable then a nice pair of PJ's. I love this picture. We were all just cuddling on the couch when I decided to snap some pictures.

This was taken at a play group. Andrea Belle is wearing one of her "Spring outfits" in January. I like to buy stuff on sale. So I bought a lot of outfits last year and did not guess right on the season for her. But it was cute anyway.

This is one of Brycen's favorite games. He gets under the rug...

Then says, "Where's Brycen" He will stay there until I come and start playing along.

Then he pops his head out and say's, "There he is". It is always cuter when it is your kid I am sure.