Maverick Charles Walling

It has been a good long while since i have posted anything new...and for a good reason. Walling baby #3, aka Maverick Charles Walling finally arrived! I never went into labor on my own so I ended up being induced on Sunday November 20Th at 40 weeks 6 days pregnant. My wonderful sisters Karlene (far right) and Ashlee (center) flew down for the weekend to be my support system during delivery since Price wasn't going to make it. I don't know how i would have done it without them!

Along with my sister Ashlee came my youngest niece Nora Grace. I obviously don't have any daughters but still LOVE all the pink and ruffles and fun girl clothes. So, in anticipation of Nora's arrival, i did a little shopping and got her clothes for the weekend. Check out her looks:
OUTFIT #1

OUTFIT #2

OUTFIT #3

OUTFIT #4 (its kind of hard to see in this pic but she was wearing a pink floral onesie, fur vest, and layered floral jean mini skirt) She had one last outfit, but I left for the hospital before i got to see her in it.

I was scheduled for an induction at 1pm but my sisters thought we should head over early and see if they could get the ball rolling. I'm so glad we did! We walked in the doors and there was no one there so they took me right in! At exactly 11 am i was started on potesin (a labor inducing drug). At 2pm they broke my water, at 3pm they started the epidural (which took 2 attempts and 45 minutes to get in), and after 3 pushes our little man made his grand entrance at 5:09 pm!

He weighed 8 pounds and 7 ounces and was 22 inches long. He is the longest of all my boys by an inch and the heaviest by one ounce. Ethan was the shortest and heaviest of them all!

Maverick had a full head of dark hair just like i did when i was born.

I am beyond lucky to have had these great women with me along the way. Karlene: thank you for staying calm and supporting me through the whole epidural process. It was NOT an enjoyable 45 minutes and it was really reassuring to have you in front of me the entire time.

Ashlee: thank you for keeping a close eye on Mavericks heart rate in the last hour of labor. I was indescribably worried and trying not to panic but you told me everything was OK and hearing you say that really made me feel better.

Anna: You made it just in time girl! I loved your excitement and enthusiasm and positive energy!

Preston had been DYING for his newest baby brother to be born. So as soon as he got the phone call and started seeing pictures sent from the hospital, he was ready to come visit. He wanted to hold Maverick right away but then was ready to hand him right back when the baby started to let out some pretty bad gas! Ha Ha Ha!

Monday night we loaded up and headed home! I was nervous about how all the boys were going to get along but it went pretty well!

Ethan really likes to look at Maverick and waves to him and says "hi baby", but doesn't have a real desire to touch him or get too close.

Everything is still in whirl wind status, and i'm trying to get into a routine again, but for the most part life with three boys has not been to bad. Thank you to all the help I have (and had). I'm sure this adjustment period would not be the same without all of you!

I feel so blessed to have another healthy, handsome little boy and I can't wait to see what kind of adventures he has in store for us! I'm hoping to stay on top of my posts and keeping all of you updated of our crazy lives, but i have no idea what kind if free time i'll have!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs!
XOXO Brogan Lee

Baby #3: 40 weeks

40 weeks...I'm there! This baby is done cooking! Depending on the due date you choose to look at, I'm either WAY late, exactly done or still have 3 days to go. When i first found out i was pregnant, i looked up my due date with the conception date and it said November 14Th. That is the date I've been using all along to determine how far into the pregnancy i am. By that date i am technically DONE! The midwifes 1st due date she gave me was November 17Th (3 days away) by using the 1st day of my last period. When i had my first ultrasound, the babies measurements gave a due date of November 12Th and then when i had my second ultrasound, the baby measured at November 8Th.

For being 10 months pregnant, i feel pretty good. I get tired out really easy, and my feet always hurt and are swelling a lot. I'm just now to the point where I'm having a hard time sleeping. I saw my midwife a few days ago and was told i was 4cm dilated and that I would have the baby any day. I was told the same thing with both Preston and Ethan and neither of them came before my due dates without being induced. I really don't want to be induced this pregnancy but am nervous that if i go too long, he may be too big for me to have naturally. The midwife said it was a ten day waiting period to schedule an induction so at my last appointment, i booked an appointment just in case he doesn't arrive. So as of now, if little man continues to be stubborn, his birthday will be either November 20Th or November 21st! Both days my sisters will be here, so I'm kind of excited about that! I've been a lot lazier with my postings, but I promise to update when he's born!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Girls weekend

In anticipation of Walling baby #3's arrival, my best friend Nicole came down from San Luis Obispo to help out (and visit). Unfortunately, the baby never came, but it was great getting to chat, relax, eat an ungodly amount of food and have her help with the boys. My grandma had flown in from New York a few days before and when we woke up in the morning, she treated us to some wonderful home made crepes with fresh strawberries!

Nicole works with kids, and her mom is a preschool teacher, so she is full of good ideas of how to keep little ones busy. With some of the over ripe bananas i had laying around, she taught the boys to make chocolate chip banana nut bread. Preston LOVES to cook and of course had to dress the part. He pulled out his Chef costume from Aunt Karlene and they got to baking! The bread was delicious and didn't even make it two days in the house!

I haven't had much of an appetite lately and couldn't put my finger on what i wanted for lunch. We narrowed it down to Mexican food and drove over to my favorite place in Imperial Beach. Going inside was a big mistake! We walked in the door and suddenly everything looked (and smelled) amazing!! Again we found ourselves unable to make up our minds so we ordered just about everything! We had potato tacos, enchiladas, rolled tacos, beans, rice, chips, about 5 different types of salsa and guacamole. It was um um GOOD! I'm sure this meal alone was responsible for me gaining back the few pounds i had lost in the past week.

I think the kids were too amped up from all the company and didn't nap. By 8 o'clock on the dot, both of them were knocked out on the couch. It was pretty cute (and a big relief to have some piece and quite!)

The next day we pulled out some paints and created art work. For Christmas, my sisters got the kids an easel and a bunch of paints. We had used up all the paints except for one pack. When i pulled the package out and read the back, i discovered something really interesting about these paints. They were all made of dried fruits and veggies!! It was literally corn starch and organic produce! All we had to do was add water. I felt like i was painting with watered down baby food, but i loved the concept! It is totally safe if the little ones put their hands in their mouths. Way to go sisters on this safe painting discovery!

After painting, we cleaned the table by spraying it down with shaving cream and letting them finger paint (see, didn't i tell you she is clever!)...

They didn't really grasp the finger painting part but LOVED spreading it around and getting it all over themselves.

Creamy hands...

...more creamy hands

Scrub a dub dub...

After the boys had their fun covering themselves in weird stuff, it was the grown ups turn! I couldn't believe Nicole had never done a face mask before! My mom picked up a few jars of my favorite mud mask in Old Town and we sloped it on our faces, soaked our feet in a cold bath and chatted away about her upcoming nuptials (YES she is getting married!!!) Even though the mask kind of burns/itches while it's on, i think the silky smooth, shrunken pore result was enough to make Nicole a face mask lifer! Ha Ha Ha

Since little Walling man was still being stubborn, we went to lunch on Nicole's last day here. Soup plantation is one of both of our all time favorites! I did some serious damage to my gut. If the Mexican food wasn't the reason for my weight gain, this meal DEFINITELY was!

We finished up her visit with a hopping spree at Babies R Us. My sisters and youngest niece are flying in this weekend for a visit and I'm pretty excited to see the little miss! As someone who is about the be the mother of 3 boys, I get a little crazy around girls clothing! I my have bought everything in hot pink, tulle and even a little fur! Nicole managed to re frame from pink and stuck to the purple outfit for Nora! I even made sure every outfit has a matching hear bow/band and tights! I cant wait to play dress up! I promise pictures will come!

I love our girls weekends and I for see many more in the future to prepare for her big day! I'm so glad I'll be on maternity leave for the next few months, it will make it SOOO much easier to get away... except for he three kids ;)

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

The Nursery

With less than 2 weeks to go until my due date, I finally have the nursery about finished. The only thing missing in there (besides baseboards, crown molding, closet doors and a new window) is the ceiling fan. We were able to get a few installed in the other rooms of the house but the nursery and the family room are the last to be put up. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have that taken care of. Anyway, take a look at what we've done...

Since we are having another boy, I didn't want to buy new bedding and decorations for the room and start all over, plus I still liked the jungle theme we put in there for Ethan. So instead, I bought a jungle themed wall decal off my favorite website etsy.com.

Also since our house is 100% tile floor, I also put a new rug in there to warm it up a little, add some more color and cushion the floor a bit.

The decal was super easy to put up. It came in a bunch of pieces and my mom and I got it done in about an hour and a half. It can be removed later and doesn't damage the walls. I also ordered his name in the same decal material from another company and was really happy with the result. Not to mention, it was a TON cheaper than buying letters and painting them like I did for Preston and Ethan.

I kept the plaster belly my sisters Karlene and Ashlee and cousin Erin did of my stomach when I was 36 weeks pregnant with Preston. I had a scarf that was almost the same colors as the room so I tied it on there for some "coverage". It looks so small compared to what I'm carrying around now!! I like having something from each of the boys/each of my pregnancies in there.

I found these great fabric lined wicker baskets at Target about a year ago to store the toys in my living room in. I measured them and found that they fit perfectly under the changing table!...AND Target still carried them in stock for about $19! I was pretty excited! They hold a lot and look nice in there. The animal masks were found by my mom a few years back while she was on vacation in San Clemente and the paintings were done by a man in my home town.

I L-O-V-E this glider! It was a gift from my sisters when I had Preston and it is really comfortable! The kids have gotten it kind of dirty but luckily most of the cushions come off and can be put in the washer! It is great for nursing, rocking the little ones to sleep, or just relaxing in.

Oh, and that dresser...it has been in our family for YEARS! It was my moms when she was a little girl. It has just a few nicks on it from all the moves, but otherwise is in great shape!

Now, the room is d-o-n-e!!! All we need is the baby and it will be complete! AANNYYY day now... :) HA HA HA

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOX Brogan Lee

Halloween week (FINALLY!!)

WOW! It has been a REALLLLY long time since i have posted! It's now a week past Halloween and I'm just getting around to loading some pictures, sorry world! Anyway, last weekend the boys and i picked up some pumpkins at the base. I wasn't up for the pumpkin patch with them this year. I can't get on any of the rides and am not fast enough to chase after both of them by myself. I'm glad they didn't seem to mind skipping it this year. They really liked coloring all over the pumpkins and they let me cut some traditional faces into them.

I can't believe how different they look in that picture!Both boys were pretty proud of their pumpkins. I love the little things that make them happy!

Friday was the kids last day of daycare and they had a little Halloween party. Last year i went all out and made a few dozen different desserts and got a little creative. Being almost 38 weeks pregnant this year, i wasn't feeling the creative bug! I went to the bakery and ordered a fancy Halloween cake. However when I went to pick it up on Thursday night, the bakery informed me they had misplaced my order and didn't have anything ready. Sooo, the daycare kids got some store bought cupcakes with a candy bar stuck on top. I felt pretty bad about the sorry desserts they got this year.

I didn't want them wearing their new costumes because i figured they'd get ripped or dirty and didn't want to try to mend anything last minute. Preston wore his iron man costume from last year and Ethan wore the robin costume that is about 20 years old. A family friend made it for her son and then Martin (my little brother) wore it when he was 3 or 4 and Preston wore it when he was 2. I washed it and the letters all came off but it still worked.

Sadly by the time Monday night rolled around, Ethan had come down with a pretty nasty cold. He wasn't really feeling getting dressed up, but i managed to get part of his costume on and we headed out for a night of running from door to door in search of as much candy as we could each carry. Preston was READY!!

Preston could hardly contain himself to get his picture taken and as soon as the flash went off, he was at a dead sprint to the nearest house. He has told me multiple times that Halloween is his favorite day, even more than Christmas!

Ethan on the other hand took a much calmer approach to this holiday. I stuck with him as we slowly made our way from door to door. He stopped to look at every decoration, had to check out what candy he was just given and then when we ran across this cat, it held us up for about 10 minutes! The next morning Preston could hardly walk from running so hard and Ethan and I felt perfectly fine from taking it slow and steady! Ha Ha Ha

There were some pretty cute kids out and about in the neighborhood. It was so cute the way the older kids took Ethan's hand and pulled him to the front of the pack and weren't greedy to be the first to get candy at each house.

There's my little Bam Bam without his club and hat (and with a turtleneck on because of how cold it was and how sick he was). I still think he looked pretty cute!

Ethan got back to the house, walked through the front door to the kitchen, sat down and started tearing into his candy stash...

...as did every other kid there!!

They don't look so happy because this was right about the time the candy was taken away.

It was well past 8pm, they were tired and sweaty but it didn't stop them from playing a few battle rounds of BeyBlade (apparently it's the cool new toy for boys??)

The next morning, Preston and I were up early because he had a Dr appointment to get his shots for kindergarten (5 shots to be exact). I was under the assumption they would give them to him in his arms, and was hoping this was true because of how sore his legs already were. It literally took 15 minutes to get 20 feet from the parking lot to the front door of his doctor office because he was limping so bad. I sadly was wrong. The nurse made him lay down and cross his arms and I had to put his blanket over his chest and practically lay on top of him while she held his legs down and gave him the shots. It was terrible!! I had to hold back my tears as i watched him scream. He yelled so hard that it broke all the blood cells around his eyes and he was spotty for about 2 days. But within about 3 minutes he had calmed down. I took him for donuts afterwards(we found the BEST donut place EVER in Coronado!!) and to play with my friend Anna's daughter. He was such a good boy. I was really proud of how well he handled it all. Then we went back home, dumped out the candy from the night before and started to pick through everything. I think the boys were in heaven!!

Overall Halloween week went pretty well. The boys had a good time, they got lots of candy and Ethan is slowly recovering from his cold (and i now have it as well and will hopefully be recovering soon). I hope all of you had a ghoulish good time!!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee