Mini-photoshoot

I was trying to take some pics of the baby for walls and such...They didn't quite turn out, but they'll do. I may attempt again on another day....

Oh how I love...

Two and Half Men and Rules of Engagement. After my Chuck fixation...they make me laugh out loud.

Oh how I wish Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother didn't overlap Chuck. ...

Yes, I am a t.v. zombie on Monday nights.

I'm not afraid to admit it.

"2 Weeks"

Well, we've made it to the almost-2-week mark. We sent Aunt Sara home yesterday and it was very sad. We miss her already. I, however, can say; I successfully survived my first alone-with-three-kids outing. Granted, it was to the Dr, so relatively contained, but still. Julianne had her "2-week" check today and she is doing so GREAT!! She weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz (which is just one ounce shy of a pound gain from the day we left the hospital!) and stretched out to 21 1/2 inches long. She is definitely filling out. We could tell before I took her in, but this just verified everything. Yay for healthy babies!!
Brooklyn is kindly destroying the room where all toys are at the moment....granted, Mason made a great start of it before she even got up there.... He actually took a nap today and I'm so grateful.
While Aunt Sara was here, there was some major spoiling for everyone involved (except her, of course). Brooklyn got a new Build-a-bear and mason got his first. They had a ball (and Sara and I had lots of fun too).
Brooklyn chose a pink bear and named her Melody (think Barbie and the Diamond castle) and Mason chose a Puppy and named him Bob (as in the builder). They both went home happy. :)



Scrolling through pics we've taken, I noticed I'm not in very many. I don't want to be left out so I had Sara take this one. I think it turned out pretty cute. Definitely on one of my better days :).
And who can resist a little Daddy-lovin? All ready for bed in this one and getting in some quality cuddle-time!


p.s. to clarify on a comment made previously. Our kids all had names before we left the hospital. It took us 3 days each with Brooklyn and Mason. Julianne got her name on day 2 and I went home a day earlier than with the other 2 sections. So, yes it takes us forever, yes we were quick on this one. But no, None of our birth certificates say "baby Boy (or girl) Hibshman". They do actually have names :)

Update

Hello all! Yes we are still alive. I know. It's been a few days. We made it home from the Hospital on Sunday and Jon got to be home with us on Monday. Unfortunately it wasn't all relaxing-family-togetherness....Julianne's Biliruben count was a little high so Monday we got to take her to the Dr. for a check up. They had to check her numbers again (poke in the heel...so sad) and she was up to 14...(if it gets to 15 they send you a biliblanket). SO... after spending a good chunk of Monday at the Dr and the lab, we finally got home for some rest. Tuesday brought Jon back to work except for a small break to get my sister and bring her to the house. Unfortunately, that was all the time off he had, but Sara's been loving and entertaining us while he's been gone. Wednesday took us back to the Dr for a weight check and Julianne had gained 2 ounces since we'd been there on Monday. Great sign! They say they're supposed to gain an ounce a day after they're born so that was perfect. Luckily, no biliblanket for us. Next week will take us to the Dr again for her "2 week" check. It'll be more like "week and a half" check, however.
I'm feeling great. It helps that I pretty much just sit around all day. Sara plays with my kids...makes us food, treats and in general keeps us company. She's even let me have some serious naps the last couple days. It's SOOO nice. Now, we just need to find some way to pamper her :) (as if she'd let me). I need to post some new pics of the munchkin, she's so cute!! hee hee. The kids are still loving her. Thankfully, Brooklyn's constant need to hold her has decreased slightly. Brooklyn is still an excellent helper, though. Now, if Mason would just chill enough to take a decent nap, we'd be all set!
So, I'll get some new pics up soon, I know a certain Grandma and a couple of Grandpas who are dying to see some. We'll get on it soon! Until then....TTFN!

Happy Easter!

I know we've been posting a ton lately, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to post about a holiday so close to my heart. In lieu of a bunny and good wishes on my blog, I want to post a song that is dear to my heart. This is the version I sung in high school with the choir and is performed here by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love how music can span the divides of different belief systems and comfort every soul.
"Come Thou Fount"


I'm hoping that you feel the season in your heart and find comfort in your knowledge. My favorite line of the whole song comes at the end...

'Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.'

Happy Easter!

The Name

Hello, Jon here. This has got to be a record for us, but we've actually given our daughter a name. . . . Julianne Hibshman. Well, there you have it.

pictures

Didn't Jon do a good job blogging? He is so awesome to do it for me. We are all doing well. Looks like we'll be going home tomorrow and Brooklyn is beside herself with excitement. It takes all her willpower to let anyone else hold her baby :). and, No. we don't have a name yet. Hopefully by this afternoon.... Enjoy!

IT'S A GIRL!

Okay, my name is Jon, and this is my first blogging attempt. Anne-Marie, as you can well imagine, is not in a position to blog right now, so she asked me to fill in for her for purposes of this post.


WE HAVE A NEW BABY GIRL!! Yeah, it's that exciting. Baby Hibshman--for those of you who know Anne-Marie and me, the current given name should come as no surprise--was born at 2:04 p.m. this afternoon. She came in at 6 pounds 13 ounces and is 19 inches long. (Other vitals can be provided upon request for those of you DMU and OSU students who may care about such things.) She has . . . a full head of . . . not red . . . , but brown hair. Surprise! Kind of, but not really. (We never expected all of them to have red hair.) Other than that, not much to report. Anne-Marie and the baby are doing well, Brooklyn is THRILLED to have a new baby sister, and Mason has no clue how much his life is about to change (although he still thinks it's kind of cool--for now). As for me, I'm just happy that she's here and that she and Anne-Marie are healthy.

Well, this concludes my services for the night. I guarantee that more pictures are to come. We just have to get Anne-Marie up and blogging again.

the Remodel

The summary of the process, enjoy!

Let the games begin!

Project

Well, we did it! We completed a small home-remodel project! My sister and her family were sweet enough to come down last weekend to help. Her hubby is a drywall/stucco pro and was willing to come help repair our dysfunctional "hall" bathroom. Before even moving in, Jon found mold by the tub and under the linoleum, so we haven't been using it. Luckily, the mold wasn't as far spread as we thought, but we still pulled up the linoleum and Ryan fixed the wall where mold had invaded. Then he and Jon laid tile and Ryan was kind enough to fix the gouges in the drywall throughout the house (now if only I had a can of paint that color...). Then, I painted today and Jon is attaching the baseboard as I type. FINALLY we have two upstairs bathrooms that are usable without getting poisoned. PLUS, the kids can now bathe (well after I get it cleaned anyway) in a tub where they are not likely to fall out and crack their heads open (or break all their teeth off). Visitors now have a wc of their "own" and we have a VERY nice room that we completed :). Ok, Jon and Ryan completed. My only contribution so far was painting the walls.

Side-story: though the mold was only in the one corner and quickly died with my clorox mix, there was a squeak in the floor. So, before Ryan and Jon laid the tile, the attempted to nail the floor down at the offending location. After nailing several nails through the floor with no success, they cut a hole in the floor to investigate. What did they find? A Joist that was broken in half and another that was resting on the ceiling below it. Yeah. GREAT! So, instead of laying tile Saturday morning. Jon and Ryan got to run to Home Depot (3rd trip for this project) for a 2x4 to fix the floor. They fixed it and all was well. Finally, after lunch, the tiling begun. I'm glad we found that little quirk, but honestly, how does one BREAK a floor joist?

The pics are still on my camera, but hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to upload them. AS soon as I do, I will post pics...I promise. Plus, I want the bathroom to be complete before I post the pics so you all can get the full effect.

I probably won't be blogging much in the next little while, fyi. Jon's family will start arriving on Wednesday (I think) and be here all weekend. And, of course, Baby Hibshman #3 will be joining us on Friday afternoon. Be warned, though. I will post about the baby, but it won't be until the evening probably. The section isn't until after lunch and of course, we're in the latest time zone of the country... I promise, though. We will post something about the baby before the weekend is out....If I don't blog before then....Catch you later :)

mother of the year by a leap

I had this great idea for a post the other day, and now I can't remember what it was. Oh well...in an effort to get my {disgruntled american} post off the top of my blog, here's some randomness for your enjoyment.

In an effort to achieve Mother-of-the-year, we've been watching an exceptional number of movies lately. Actually, we've been watching the same movies over and over and over. Occasionally we squeeze in:

Every couple of days we watch:
We alternate between:

and:And, daily we watch:
Aren't I an awesome mom? Mason wakes up in the morning (sometimes around 6:30) comes into our room and says, "Mommy" (or Daddy, whoever happens to respond to his presence first) "you want to come downstairs with me and have cereal?" "Let's watch Bob". Nearly every day. Cereal or breakfast and Bob. Occasionally he's ambitious and asks for Monsters first thing, but usually it's Bob. And since I could talk Brooklyn into PBS every morning, I figure, what's the difference if we watch Bob? (But then, at least PBS is somewhat educational....). Then, after breakfast, usually we've been able to get dressed, it's "Can I watch Monsters" (or, Cars or woody or thomas)? Note, we've only been up for a couple hours by this point. If you say "no". You get a scream and sometimes even a fit. Ah... the joys of being two. If you say "yes", life is good and we remain happy as a clam. Then, if nothing else is available to distract said young Hibshman, we move on to the next movie of choice. Yes, I have been known in the last few weeks to watch 3-4 movies in a day. Pathetic. I know. These are just Mason's movies. I try to get Brooklyn to "rest" everyday and that usually entails a movie as well. So, in our stew of Cars, Monsters, Woody, Bob and Thomas we occasionally mix in a Barbie or Princess just for fun. If I haven't been able to get Mason to nap that day, I pray that he'll crash during one of said movies. About 50% of the time, he does. We're still working on the whole nap-in-the-big-boy-bed thing. It's being a trial.

I'd like to blame this on being pregnant. That I'm just too tired to entertain; but I'm not entirely sure that's true. Mostly, I just get tired of him screaming at me. Or, listening to his fits. Then, I can only handle Brooklyn's running laps for so long. So, I give in and let her choose a movie to watch (even though she contentedly watches the movies with Mason...). I hope that in a couple weeks, when we've settled our "new" life a bit, this trend will stop. Maybe I'll actually start taking them outside again (that's not as fun as it used to be...boy do I miss having company at the playground...). Maybe they'll actually play with the toystore worth of toys upstairs. Maybe I'll grow a backbone and be able to end all the tantrums.

Maybe, someday....I'll earn Mother-of-the-year for something GOOD I do for my children....