Our Chunky Monkey and other fun events....

Well, the title says it all. Rex is our chunky monkey! We went today for his 2 month check-up and he weighed in at a whopping 13.7 lbs (76th%) and he was 24 in (76th%)! We've never had a baby this big before!! I have determined that my milk has the same stuff in it that the special beans did in Jack in the beanstalk! And Rex likes it so much I feel like he eats ALL THE TIME!! He is obviously growing quite well. He is talking a lot more now and to more than just me...he'll talk to the girls and to Nick too and it's really cute coos! He holds his held up very well, even admist the heaviness of it with him being so big!! :) It's hard to hold up all those double chins!! He is sleeping now for 6-7 hour stretches at night, which I love of course! We've been putting him in his bed in his room for naptimes now, but he is still in our room at night. I'm hoping to get the guts to start putting him in his own room for bedtime soon...I just know that means more work for me when he gets up to eat! He still prefers me over anyone else, which is expected, but Nick gets frustrated when he can't calm him down at times. I just know that when he gets older it is probably going to be the other way around, so I'm trying to enjoy it now! Here are some pics of him a week ago (little brother t-shirt...Thanks Aunt Shannon!) and from yesterday. He is now officially in his 3-6 month clothes at only 2 months and we'll see how long/soon he'll be in 6-9 months growing at this rate! Then a couple of weeks ago we went to St. Louis for a much needed temple trip and a little getaway for our family. The first day we went to the Magic House also known as the Children's Museum. Most of you know that we are cheap in what we like to do, well this was well worth our money! We did actually have a coupon making it cheaper, but still I think we would have been satisfied paying full price. That place is amazing and it's extremely huge so I feel like we need to go again just to see all of the places we missed! Sadly though on one of the last spots Cora tripped and sprained her ankle pretty bad. It was so bad that she couldn't put weight on her foot, we were worried she had done something worse to it, but she was eventually able to put weight on it. I didn't take many pictures because I was actually having trouble with dizziness through the place. So, this is what we got with pictures. Cora's favorite part was the new hospital section where you could pretend to be a nurse or a doctor in a newborn nursery. No matter what the room or what was in the room, she wanted to either go to that part or go back to it. She could have probably spent the whole day in that little room. Kayley's favorite part was the Jack and the Beanstalk. It was this cool jungle gym that went to all levels of the building. You climbed the beanstalk instead of taking the stairs. It was a really cool place and the girls (and us) can hardly wait to go back!

Then we stayed in a hotel for two nights. We got a great deal on priceline and it was a great hotel, just in the middle of no where...well I shouldn't say no where, but it was in the middle of a bunch of businesses, just no food or shopping right there, which was weird. The girls had a BLAST staying in the hotel. They loved the pool, they loved being able to stay in the same bed, they loved the breakfast and they just loved to stay and hang out in the hotel room. I'm sure if we said we were just goign to stay in a hotel in the future, they wouldn't need anything else to entertain them! Cora has now said she wants us to build a hotel in our house she had so much fun! So I guess I get to charge people to stay at our house now!!

Here are the pics from the Magic House... Then the next day we went to the temple. We actually ended up having a small little family reunion without even planning it. The Cape Girardeau stake was having it's Stake Temple day which included the Sanders (who now live in Sikeston) and the Farmington Felkers. Then Andrew and Sarah had already planned on going to the temple too...so we just did a swap with all the kids and met altogether at the end and headed to the science center. The Sanders and the Farmington Felkers had not gotten a chance to meet Rex yet, so they were all excited to get their turn in holding him...except Sterling and Drew who were just too excited to play with one another to worry about anything else. And Andrew (Sanders) who couldn't stop talking about Rex in the car, but didn't want anything to do with him once he got there! Here's pics of Caroline and Julia holding him. They were both the girls' buddies along with Elizabeth....they both just adore those three as well as their big cousin Olivia. Here's all the Farmington Felkers holding Rex. They are expecting a new baby in their house in December and Mallory is so excited about the girl...although all she could talk about this trip was the fact that she was starting school that week! Stephanie also got her baby fix...at least for now! Both Ross and Elizabeth loved holding him and were good sports too since he is so heavy now...it took them quite a bit of strength to hold him. Here's just a cute pic I got of him while Stephanie was holding him! The girls being silly with Caroline... A collection of pics from the science center. The cousins really did have a great time catching up with one another! We have already talked about when to do this the next time and have the Realls meet us along with Mom...and if only the Carles and Andersons lived closer we could do it with them as well! Here are two pics I took of Rex about 2 weeks ago. I wanted you to notice all his chins...look on the left...I counted 4 chins...yep 4!!! Then his cute little smile on the right was just irresistable!!

What a week...

Well, we have quite the week...in a way I'm glad it's over, but I'm also very sad as milestones are starting to be harder and harder for me to handle. Kayley started school, Rex turned 7 weeks and started sleeping longer through the night (wahoo), and Kayley had her 5th birthday! Here are all the pics from our week.

This pic is actually from last week, but I haven't posted it yet. The girls picked out coordinating shirts and I think they look so grown up in them and they love being able to match one another.
Here are some pics of a couple of days before Rex turned 7 weeks old. I cannot believe he is already this old. He is smiling more now on command and it's so cute (there's a pic below). He also gave me a 7 hour stretch of sleep two nights ago!! He's cooing a lot more and is so cute when he does it! He's strong as can be and has great head control now. He does like tummy time, for only a little bit though. He's good at holding your hand when you put your hand in his, which I love! I'm anxious to see how much he weighs in a couple of weeks for his 2 month appointment.

Kayley started school this week. She's going to a preschool that is Mon - Thu for three hours. I have to admit that I've been VERY anxious about her going to school. I never thought I'd be a mom that would worry this much, but there is something about not having your child ever leave your side being at home with them all the time and then have to be ok with having someone else watch them for three straight hours. We went to her meet the teacher night on Monday and her teacher is really nice. She has a brand new building as it just got finished being built, barely in time for school! Cora loved playing with the toys in her class and BEGGED to go to school with her on Wed. She really did miss her as when we got home she wanted to watch home videos. She requested Christmas ones with Kayley in them. After it was over, I told her it was time to take a nap, she wanted Kayley to take a nap with her, but I told her she was at school. So she asked if she could sleep in my bed with me. I asked her if that was why she wanted to watch home videos of Kayley was because she missed her and she said she did miss her. On the flip side, Kayley was so excited to go to school. We asked her the night before if she wanted a Father's blessing and she thought that was silly kind of because she was just so excited. I did however get out of her the next day that she was a bit nervous. But after the first day, she does love her class. She is actually the only girl, but luckily out of only 7 students and two teachers. We'll see how it goes. She came home the first day and said she remembered one boy's name because it was weird...his name was Reid...I think she thought it was "Read".

Then last night we had Kayley's 5th Birthday Party. Luckily the weather was perfect for it. Last year she wanted to have a pool party, but it got rained out. We had so much fun and it was actually one of the least stressful parties we've had I think! The kids had fun swimming...

Playing games....we played pin the pieces on Mr. Potato Head (she had a Toy Story Party)....

The cake turned out much better than I thought it would. I had to flip the top over to the other side after it was already iced once and then re-ice it. Then as I was writing the words...I actually forgot the "h" in birthday. But it tasted good and ended up looking better than I thought! I'm no cake-maker and every birthday I learn to appreciate the talent that some people have to do such amazing cakes!!

And the highlight of the party...Woody arrived! Uncle Andrew willingly dressed up as Woody for Kayley. She was insistent that it was Uncle Andrew and not Woody...but he was pretty convincing with his accent and acting. The other kids really thought he was the real Woody and it was cute to see their reactions. My favorite was when Woody left to go find Bullseye and Jesse and the kids just went to the fence and watched him run off into the distance! Thanks Woody/Uncle Andrew for helping to make such a fun party!! Oh and Kayley refused to take a pic with Woody since it was just Uncle Andrew so Nick had to sneak a pic of Kayley with Woody in the background...but Cora wanted her pic taken with Woody.

Here's a pic with everyone with Woody...they had such fun with him!

I can't believe Kayley is already 5 years old. The morning of her birthday I was cuddling with Rex just thinking that 5 years ago that day I was in the hospital holding Kayley as a baby. Time really flies! She is so smart and quick to learn things. She could quote you almost a whole movie or book after only one or two viewings. She loves to read through books. She loves to write all her letters and have her help spell things out on paper. She loves being a big sister. She's good to help Cora with things and to help me with Rex. She's a great student at school and at church, they almost never have to get onto her for not listening or anything. We are so proud of our big girl Kayley. And as mentioned earlier, Rex is smiling a lot more now and he is so cute when he does it...it's just hard to get a pic of him when you're the one trying to get him smile and take a pic at the same time. I was able to get this cute one of him with Cora this morning.

Rex's Blessing Weekend and Cora's Birthday

This last weekend was quite the weekend. To start off, Grandpa and Grandma Marchelle came for the whole week ahead for an extended visit. They got to meet both Rex and Garrett for the first time. It was so fun to get them to finally meet them and get to hold them! It was cute seeing Randy get emotional with Rex thinking of his Dad, who Rex is named after. I also had an epiphany on Rex's name that we did not even plan when we named him. Nick's first name (Nicholas) is after his great-grandpa and his middle name, Randall is after his Dad. Rex's first name is after his great-grandpa and his middle name, Nicholas is after his Dad, if that makes sense? We didn't even plan on it, but we might have set a tradition with naming Rex. I was pretty excited! Here's pictures of when Randy and Marchelle got to meet Rex and of them at the mall riding the carousel for Cora's birthday.
The weekend was jam packed with activities. Here are a few fun pics of the cousins playing together and just being silly.

And since all of the Bell family was together, Michelle thought it was a good idea to get a big group family picture taken now that there are two new babies added to the family since our last big picture and as far as we knew (at least when we were planning the weekend) no one else was expecting. Little did we know that the cute couple found in this group of picture was expecting their first...due Feb 8th! We are excited and now have to plan for another family picture!!

Then another reason for the get together was Cora turned 3!!! I can't believe she is already this old! We just love our little Cora, and I do mean little! I always thought Kayley was little, but Cora is a bit smaller than she was and just as cute. She is always so happy, no matter what time of the day! She absolutely LOVES babies and especially her little brother. She is very inquisitive and loves to try and write her name already, even though she doesn't know how to yet...or should I say I haven't worked on it with her yet, but I bet if we worked on it, it wouldn't be long till she got it. She's more adventurous than her sister, but is still timid on some things. She is always very loving and loves to give loves to you and cuddle. We just love our Cora and can't imagine our family without her.

Here are pictures of her birthday party. She requested a Nemo party this year and at the pool. As I mentioned, the weekend was busy. So after pictures in Liberty we headed home to prep for the party to be held at our neighborhood pool. I happened to check my email while nursing Rex and found an email saying our pool was closed due to someone "defacating" in the pool. I immediately freaked out, but called Michelle to see if we could move the party to their pool. Luckily everything worked out, but it was a bit stressful having to pack it all up to go to Liberty versus having it by our house...plus of all times Nick was on call and usually he isn't as busy, but of all Saturday's he got called in 4 times....3 of which were right by the time for her party! It was crazy, but luckily the party just consisted of family so they were all flexible and VERY helpful!! Here's her cake, which didn't last very well in the heat...I'm not a professional cake decorator but it still tasted good!

We did LOTS of swimming, which is great to entertain kids!! They all were great water babies!!

We played pin the lucky fin on Nemo...the kids had fun doing that!

Then there were lots of presents to open...Cora loved opening them. She was very patient in waiting to open them. She kept telling everyone..."It's almost time to open my presents guys!" It was cute!

Then the main reason for eveyone's gathering was Rex's blessing and he got to share the blessing weekend with his cousin Garrett to make travels easier for everyone! He also was blessed on Cora's birthday, which is cool because Cora was actually blessed on my Mom's birthday. A great way to remember big events!! Here are some pics of him in his blessing outfit.

Here are pics with Garrett and the girls, who like always couldn't get enough of him!

Here's a pic of all of us on the special day!

A pic of all the Felker's that were in attendance. We really appreciate everyone that made the trip...it really meant a lot to us! It was a great weekend!!

And here are the two most important men in my life!!! Aren't they cute!?!?!

Rex's 1st Swim

Cora dancing to Train

Rex is Growing So Fast...

Well, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...yet anyway! Having three kids and a newborn, things get kind of crazy and the blog gets put on the back burner all the time! So here is a catch up post and you will really think Rex is growing so fast because the pictures range from when he was 10 days old to almost 4 weeks old! So enjoy all the cute pics!!

Here are some of him at 10 days old. I just loved him this little outfit. The onesie has a football on it and he has little jersey type socks. His legs are so NOT that skinny anymore!! And still Cora cannot get enough of him and begs to hold him any chance she gets. Here are some pics of the girls with him. They just love him so much!

Then, a couple of weeks ago we got to have a visit from the Realls and my Mom. Katie had the first of the 5 new Felker nieces and nephews of 2010. Emme was born in March, so there is quite a bit of size difference in the two of them in these pics..but they were both so cute together and we had a blast visiting with them all! The kids had so much fun playing together. Matt got to woop up on Nick in basketball and Mike got to search for "spaceships" on the school playground with the little girls and Sam. Einstein just watched and tried to stay cool with Katie and I and the babies while we watched.

The boys also got to help Nick give Einstein a bath and they thought that was pretty cool. Nick prefers to give him a bath outside with the hose cause he will admit it's kind of fun to spray him with the hose! I have to concur...sorry Einstein!! Kayley and Cora had a fun time trying to help us get a photo shoot with Rex and Emme both looking at the camera and not crying. It didn't work so well.

We got to celebrate Ashlyn's 4th birthday. The girls had a blast spending time with her and her new toys.

Daddy gets cuddle time with Rex when he gets home from work...Rex just loves to relax on him! Cora likes to pretend she's a baby sometimes and sit in Rex's chair. She's cute either way!

Kayley seriously LOVES her Rex. Anytime I'm trying to get some good pics of him, she always want to get in on the picture. Here he is at almost 2 weeks old.

Once again at 2 weeks old...my sweet, sweet Rex. I can understand the relationship a mother has with her son already! I just love my sweet little boy and sometimes can't get enough of him!! I mean...who couldn't just melt from looking at this sweet face!!

And here is Rex's first bath. He was technically over 2 weeks and his umbilical cord had actually fallen off about 4 days before this, but sorry Rex, with being the third child, it took us this long to get your first bath in. But we did get pics and even video of the event so consider yourself lucky!! He actually did really well and seemed to enjoy it except when his sisters tried to pour water on his face!

At 2 1/2 weeks we got his first professional pics taken. I wanted to get pics of him and the girls and wanted them to be when he was still really little, especially as he is growing so quickly! He did great and didn't even fuss at all throughout the whole session! The girls did great as always too and it was really hard to pick out which ones to get. Here is what we got...a cute one of him...at 2 1/2 weeks old.

And here's the one with all three of them! This picture to me just shows how much they love him with them sitting right over them!

Other things we've been up to is Cora dancing like crazy. This is actually of her dancing to her favorite song by Train. The "hey sister" song as we call it. I'm not really sure of the real title, but I will post a video of it soon.

And here is Rex at 3 weeks old. Again, I just can't get enough of him and his cuteness!! Oh and thanks to Jessica Bobal he can sport the Mizzou colors proudly for us!!

We also had a playdate with Kaelyn at Chik-fil-a. I only got one picture of them because they had too much fun doing the craft and I didn't want to interupt them. Our Chik-fil-a actually does a weekly storytime. This was the girls 2nd time going and my 1st as they went when I was at the hospital having Rex. It's pretty fun and nice and small, which we like...the girls love it because they love Chik-fil-a and they love that they get to play in the play place afterward!

We also got to have fun with cousins and swimming. Shannon, Addison, and Grandma made a trip up a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pics of them swimming at our pool. They all had fun and we didn't even realize how long we swam as the kids stayed happy and just soaked up the sun!

And here's another photo shoot with some cute pics of Rex. He is 3 1/2 weeks old in these pictures. I had the intention of doing the Anne Geddes type pictures, but I'm just not talented enough to do those and I didn't have an assistant to help me with it. They turned out cute anyway and he might be embarrassed later if I did the cute flowery Anne Geddes type pictures anyway!!

And last but not least, we have already taken him swimming and he loved it!! I will also post a video soon on his swim! He just sat and relaxed through the whole thing! The water was the perfect temperature, not too cold and not too warm. He sure looked cute in his swimsuit!! The girls also had a blast swimming and got to show him their jumping in the pool and going underwater tricks!

All in all it has been so much fun having a new baby in the house. Even though my house always seems to be a mess now and as soon as it is clean, it's extremely messy in minutes. I may not be getting all the sleep I need and my kids may not be as clean or neatly kept as they should be, we are having a ball with Rex in our family now! He is so sweet. He is already becoming a Momma's boy and just likes to cuddle with Mommy. It just melts my heart when he is fussy and just immediately calms down when I hold him. Tonight for the first time he smiled at me and what seemed to be on command too! Not bad for 5 weeks old!! :) It is so much fun having a boy around! The girls just love him and like Nick and I they just can't get enough of him!

Cow Appreciation Day 2010

Well, we did it again this year!! Anything for free and definitely anything for free Chik-fil-a!! The girls were so excited to dress up this year...it took them a while to take their nap knowing that when they woke up it would be time to dress like a cow! They dug out their Chik-fil-a cows we got a long time ago at the Chik-fil-a opening day to go along with their ensemble. I didn't think I'd need to convince Nick ONCE AGAIN to dress up, but yes, of course I did...he forgot how great of a deal it was last year. All four of us got to pick out ANY value meal we wanted...we even got the 12 count nuggets for the girls!! It was weird going as I knew this was the actual due date of Rex...instead of being pregnant for the event, I was carrying around a 1 1/2 week old baby! I decided not to dress him up since he only drinks my milk and not cow's milk!! He'll get to join in on the fun next year though!! It was fun and good food and I have to say we make pretty cute cows!!

4th of July Bike Parade

Rex Nicholas Bell

Well, now Rex is over a week old and I'm just now getting to posting about his birth..oh well, I guess that's what having a new baby does to you! Rex was due July 9th and my doctor gave me the option to induce early. I was induced with Cora and everything went smoothly, so I jumped on the option at first. However, then I realized that Cora was induced the day after her due date, so it got me worried that I would increase my chances big time of having a c-section if I induced early. My doctor assured me I wouldn't, but I still stressed. Finally after much diliberation, I did decide to go ahead with it as I had been REALLY uncomfortable with this pregnancy. So we went in the morning of June 30th. I got my antibiotics for group B strep, they started my pitocin, and then my doctor came in to break my water. As noted earlier, I had extra fluid with this pregnancy....and the ultrasounds were not kidding! Without going into too much detail, let's just say that all my uncomfortableness I felt during pregnancy was easily explained with all the water that came out. Anyway, everything did actually go smoothly with the induction. I actually got my epidural earlier than I had planned. (Call me crazy, but I like to go as long as I can without it so that it doesn't possibly slow things down.) But the anesthesiologist had to go and do a c-section, so it was now or wait 2 hours longer. I got the same guy who did Cora's epidural, so that was sort of a relief, although he still kicked Nick out while he did it and it was just him, the nurse and I. But, luckily the nurse was someone who had floated a lot over to Radiology so Nick knew her, so she was great! Funny story with that...she knew we were going to be induced on Wednesday, so on Tuesday she put in a request to have me for the day. Scheduling couldn't find me on the schedule, so she insisted that I was coming, etc. Finally they realized that I had been scheduled, but someone had accidentally erased my name. It was a good thing that Jennifer had checked otherwise it would have been a mess with us coming in that morning checking in.

So about noon was when I started pushing. It took a little longer with him to get him out than it did with Cora. My epidural must have sort of worn off too...at least in the birthing area because I could really feel him coming out, which was different than the girls. It was really hard to relax between pushes because it hurt so bad. Then in between the last set of contractions, I felt something and wasn't sure if it was him or not, but didn't want to push until they said for me to. The doctor asked if I felt him coming, which of course I did and within seconds he was here. I did actually have to stop pushing as the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but Dr. Trout got it off his neck very quickly and all was well thankfully! As the pictures say Rex Nicholas Bell was 7 lbs. 8 oz and 21 in. long (my biggest baby yet.) He came at 12:40pm. They had to try really hard to get him to cry throughout the cleaning process...he just kept making the cutest little baby sounds. Even now he is a pretty calm baby. The only time he cries is when he is hungry, when we're changing his diaper, or when his sisters (mainly Cora) are moving him around too much!

Here's some pictures of when he was first born...
More pics of when he was first born and some pics of him with the proud Daddy. I know some people have made comments to me like, "you finally got your boy!"...like it was some contest or game or something. I have to say that yes, it is a different feeling having a boy, but it is just as special as having our girls. There is just something special about adding a new baby to your family. Although it's already proven to be just as fun to have boys as it is to have girls!!

The girls could not be more excited for their brother to come. Oftentimes when going to doctor's appointments Cora would ask if the doctor was going to take out her baby brother out of my tummy. She has anxiously awaited the day for him to get here. Sadly when they first came to see him, he had to stay under the warmer to get his temperature up. So she had to leave and come back to hold him. She was just as excited then. Still to this day she cannot get enough of him. It's the first thing she asks for when she wakes and the last thing she wants to do before going to bed. Kayley is just as excited. She doesn't want to hold him as much as Cora, but she always is right by him stroking his hair whether I'm nursing or changing him or Daddy's holding him. She calls him "Rexy" all the time. One of her favorite things to do is hold his hand when I'm changing his diaper to help calm him down since that is one thing during which he cries.

Here are some pictures of the day of his homecoming. We started out in the cute striped outfit from the Felkers, but ended up in the cute doggie outfit as he spit up all over the other one...even though he's really not a spitty baby.

Here are some pictures of 4th of July festivities. Our neighborhood has a bike parade every year. We decided the girls could participate this year as they've both mastered riding their bikes pretty well. Cora didn't make it more than 25 feet...but in her defense the route was on a bit of a hill...Kayley on the other hand road like it was nothing! I was for sure that she would complain about having to peddle harder, but she did great! They had popsicles afterward at the pool and a little pot luck lunch. Ashlyn and Preston joined us too and they all had a blast! We also went to the fireworks display at the Visitor's Center in Independence that Saturday night. The girls absolutely HATE fireworks, so Nick let them use his shooting earphones and they still cried. In fact on Sunday evening we tried to go on a walk in the evening. The girls had their headphones on and Rex was in the front pac to cover his ears. We didn't last but 100 ft as the neighbors were shooting off fireworks and each time one would go off, it was a toss up as to who would react the most, the girls would be screaming and Einstein would be cowering like crazy!

More pics of the girls with Rex. He did have jaundice, which is no surprise to us as the girls both had it. So we were given a billi blanket to lower his levels. It was frustrating since it was hard to hold and cuddle with him while he was on the blanket, but luckily it didn't last long. On his appointment on Tuesday of this last week, which was when he was only 6 days old, he had already gotten back up to his birth weight at 7 lbs 8 1/2 oz. I will be anxious to see how much he weighs next week at his 2 week appointment. I've never had a baby gain weight this fast! So he's definitely a good eater!

Here's some more cute pics of him. It's hard to catch him with his eyes open, but I was able to get a few good ones. And Cora has loved on her brother so much that it wears her out! We really do love having Rex in our family now...he is such a great addition!!

Rex is Home!

I'm in the long process of updating the blog and facebook, etc with pictures, but it is a slow process now that I get to juggle three kids!! :) So, until I get around to posting his birth story and other pictures, this video of his homecoming will have to do. Enjoy!