Bunko Baby!

I've decided to try something different with our young women's group at church - Bunko. In the past we have just scheduled a meal and chatting time. This works for a few months but then everyone starts having excuses to not join in the fun. So I thought that maybe a different approach was needed. We are going to be playing the famous Bunko tonight at my house. After asking 11 other girls to join, I think I am the only one that has ever played Bunko before so we will be taking it slow tonight. Bunko is such a fun game. I understand why (as the box says) "it is the game that is sweeping the nation." Several years ago I substituted for the Bunko group at the high school. Now that is a fun group of women. That was my first introduction to the game. I haven't subbed for them in a long time so that's what gave me the idea for tonight. I'm cooking (well Lauren is going to come help me) chicken strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and oatmeal cake. Now I do realize that I am failing my home economics teacher from high school and am having a very white meal, but it is one of my favorite meals to cook and to eat (although quite fattening I'm sure). So hopefully tonight goes well and we can have a new fun get-together that will keep everyone coming.

What a long week and it looks like another long one ahead

We all ended up sick except Ryland last week. I've already mentioned Raylee's ear infection and tummy problems. I got some sort of stomach bug Wednesday after lunch. I was very miserable all afternoon and evening. I even worked from home on Thursday because my stomach was not back to normal yet. Friday afternoon Leland called and said to come pick him up now - he had it. His continued until Sunday though. Now this morning Raylee sounds awful. She has a terrible cough and is running a little fever again. She's still on her antibiotics because of the ear infection so I'm not sure what to do with her. The Motrin finally kicked in so she is napping very nicely. Ryland has a little congestion today but nothing major. I'm hoping he has missed the stomach thing this time around. We are typically a sick free family. None of us have ever been sick very often, but this has been a rough week. Hopefully we are nearing the end of this.

We haven't decided what we are doing for Labor Day weekend yet. We would kind of like to go out of town but with everyone sick that may not happen. We might just do a little fishing around here and sleep. So I guess we'll see what the week holds for us.

It's Official

Raylee has her first ear infection. She ran a fever all morning yesterday so I took her to the doctor in the afternoon. Sure enough her right ear is infected. They decided to give her a shot to jump start the antibiotics since she wasn't keeping anything down yesterday. She was starving this morning since she ate next to nothing yesterday. So far she has kept breakfast down. We'll see how a bottle of formula does later. Yesterday evening you wouldn't have even known she was sick by looking at her. She was very active and thought everything was hilarious. She has been able to keep pedialite down which helped relieve my concern of dehydration. So maybe she is now on the mend and we can get this first ear infection behind us.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! He is now the big 30. Finally an "adult." :) I made him a carrot cake yesterday - his favorite. He really enjoyed it. Although we have to find someone to help him eat it because I don't like carrot cake, so he's the only one eating it right now. No big plans, just family time. He already got his gift, new clothes back on our anniversary get-a-way. So we plan to spend the evening together tonight. Although we will probably crash early. Raylee isn't feeling very well and we were up a lot last night with her. So a short night equals very tired parents.

Speaking of Raylee, I haven't decided what her thing is yet. She has been messing with her ears a lot lately, but she is teething and she likes to play with them when she sucks her thumb, so I haven't thought much of it. But Saturday she seemed to have allergies because she sneezed a lot and had a very runny nose. Then last night I checked on her before I went to bed and she had thrown up at some point. I woke her up to change her and the bedding. She stayed up for awhile obviously not feeling well. She attempted to throw up some more, but didn't have enough in her stomach. She was up again at 3:30. She seemed to be hungry, but didn't want to eat. She finally crashed draped over Leland's leg in our bed. She seemed better this morning eating some cereal and bananas, but still not great. I'm hoping this is just a random small bug and not something more serious like an ear infection. I plan to see how she does this morning and decide at lunch if I'm calling the doctor. Hopefully she will do like usual and just sleep it off and feel better after a long nap.

Well, once again happy birthday to Leland. I hope he enjoys his day.

First Day of School

Children's Day Out that is. Ryland loves it there. He has been going for 3 years now and Raylee started last spring. I took them out for the summer since Leland was home so Ryland was soooo excited this morning. All day yesterday was excitement for today. We got what I thought was all of the supplies together last night - mat, blanket, pillow, lunchbox, cup, extra Raylee supplies. This morning we headed to school with much anticipation. Ryland bounded into his new classroom - the Busy Bee's - and saw his friends and began playing with Playdo. I did discover though that this year he needs school supplies! I had not realized. I can't believe I already have to buy my little boy school supplies. I'm not ready for him to grow up quite yet. I'm sure he will be so excited to go to the store tonight and pick out his purchases. Raylee didn't really care much about going into her classroom. She was in desparate need of a nap, so it probably didn't really phase her that most of the other babies were screamming. She sleeps through about anything, so a bed and her bottle would be all she needed.

I am missing them already though. Since my boss is gone this week, without the kids it is very quiet at my office. I'm actually looking forward to 3:00 when I get to go pick them up and hear all about school.

Ryland told me the other day that he can't wait to grow up and be 5. I told him that when he is 5, he gets to go to big kid school. He then proceeded to tell me that he can't wait that long to go to big kid school. Ryland loves to learn. He is going to enjoy kindergarten so much. I can't believe this is his last year with me. I'm excited for him to get to go to kindergarten next year, but I'm not quite ready for my little boy to grow up yet.

**Update**
When I picked the kids up from school I asked Ryland the typical questions, what did you learn about and did you have fun. He learned about rainbows today and made a fruit loop necklace. I asked about his friends. His best friend Nathaniel was not there today, but he still had lots of fun. But the sweetest thing he said was, "I had fun, but I really missed Raylee." What a great big brother.

Good Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Leland had a journalism lock-in Friday night. He had about 25 come and they had a great time. They also got a lot accomplished to start the year off right. I joined them at 4:15 am and made pancakes, bacon and eggs. Of course Raylee thought it was great being the morning girl she is. Ryland slept on the floor and never knew we went. We all got back home at 6:30 am and went to bed. Thankfully, Raylee slept until 10:30 so I at least got 3 1/2 more hours of sleep. We then just hung out and rested the rest of the day. Yesterday was another nice day. Although after eating out again with Scott and Lauren, we've decided that since we have a 4 yr old, a 15 mo old, and a 9 mo old between the 2 families, we now need to start designating a house and going to the store after church to pick up food for all of us. It's just hard to enjoy a Sunday lunch with anxious kids.

Today is the first day of school for Big Spring. Leland was really excited to see his kids again and get back into the routine. I'm glad to get back into our routine also. My boss is gone on vacation this week so my work should be quiet. The kids also return to their school this week. Ryland has been asking for a month now when he goes back to school to see his friends. They both go to a Mother's Day Out program 2 days a week and love it. I enjoy the break also at my office since the other three days they are with me at work.

Keynan update: Tyler, Kelly and Keynan all went home last Friday. Everyone is doing well. They are trying to figure out the system and trying to find a routine. I received more pictures and he is just as cute as Kelly keeps telling me he is. I just can't wait to see him in person.

Everyone have a great Monday and start to a great week.

Vacation Pictures

The boys enjoyed fishing. They didn't catch anything, but just fishing is fun.

We had the "Bear" cabin. It was so cute.

Raylee LOVED the water. She splashed the entire time.

The ducks were very comfortable with people. They swarmmed Ryland when he fed them.

Tyler has lots of instruments at his house (obvisously, he's a band director). Ryland (and Raylee) were fascinated by the accordian.

We really enjoyed the Lion King. I'm so glad we were able to take Ryland.

Keynan

Here are some pics of Keynan Wiggains. Kelly's sister-in-law took these with her phone. Hopefully Tyler will run to his house soon and send out more pics taken with his good camera.

Keynan is in the NICU right now. Nothing serious. Since he is so big, his body isn't making enough glucose so his blood sugar level was very low. They just have him on an IV to increase his sugar level and then will ween him off of it so that his pancreas will learn to catch up. They have been joking that he is the biggest NICU baby there. I'm sure he looks like a giant next to the premies. Kelly said both of them are doing really well.

He is FINALLY Here!

After a very long day of labor, my sister-in-law had a c-section at 8:30ish last night and gave birth to Keynan James Wiggains. He weighed 10lb 4oz and is 22in long!! The doctor had suspected a c-section would be required because of the babies size but they all wanted to let Kelly try to do it herself. After no drugs for 6 hours, epidural for 10 hours, nothing for 1 1/2 hours (while trying to push-the epidural quit), she was begging for a c-section. Mother and baby are doing great. She called me at 7:30 this morning because Tyler and Keynan were asleep and she was so excited she had to talk to someone. I'll post pictures as soon as I receive some from Tyler or my parents. Yeah for a nephew!

Also, yesterday was our 8th anniversary (what a great present). Leland surprised me and his mom stayed with the kids while we went to San Angelo Monday evening. We ate at Applebee's and stayed at a nice hotel. It was great to eat without trying to feed kids also and to sleep in without a little girl needing attention. We did some much needed clothes shopping for just the two of us. It was a great day and a great ending when Keynan was born. I'll always remember his birthday.

Vacation

We just returned from our family vacation. We had a really good time. Everyone ended up with a head cold, but we still enjoyed the trip. We started out last Wednesday and went to Lake Buchanan (near Austin). We stayed in a small cabin near the lake. Actually, our back door should have been right next to the water, but the lake is extremely low so we had to walk about half a mile to reach the water. We did lots of wading and some fishing. Our resort also had a swimming pool so we spent lots of time there also. We took a drive around the lake and went to the dam. I've never seen the water level so low. Hopefully some rain will come soon and replenish it.

After the lake, we headed to Houston. We arrived Friday afternoon at Leland's aunt Glenda's house. We relaxed there. One of her sons and his family joined us for supper. It was good to see family again. We then went to my brother's house in Katy. We only could spend a couple of hours with them, but it was good to see their new house and visit with them. They should be having their baby today, so I'll post info when I receive it.

Saturday Leland, Ryland and I went to see the Lion King! It was awesome. Leland and I had seen it in Los Angeles several year ago and when we saw that it would be in Houston the same time we were, we had to take Ryland. Poor thing felt so sick, but his eyes were glued to it the entire time. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera in so we only have one picture taken with Leland's cell phone. We asked Ryland what his favorite part of the show was and he said "all of it."

Since all four of us weren't feeling well, we decided to start heading home Saturday evening. We made it to Temple and got a good night's sleep. We came the rest of the way yesterday and got home about 3:30. We really enjoyed the relaxing time and getting to see family. We had hoped to get to see the new nephew, but he still had not made his debue yet. As usual, vacations always seem to make you feel like you need another vacation to recouperate but we did have a good time.

Blogger won't let me post any more pictures, so I'll try again later.