Rain, Rain...Go Away!!!

Well it seems another few months have come and gone without a blog post.  Baseball has no doubt kept us all very busy...In between practices, games, and tournaments we have been trying to keep up on the daily chores around the house.  There are many days I hope no one decides to stop by unexpectedly because the house is far from presentable.  YIKES!!

A lot has happened over the last few months, Charli got yet another ear infection and it was finally determined that she needed tubes.  It was a very quick procedure with very little recovery time on our end.  The surgeon said tubes were definitely the way to go with her. After he cleared all the fluid out of both of her ears he found puss pockets behind both ear drums that would never have cleared up on their own.  ICK!!!  Tomorrow will be two weeks and we can already see a HUGE difference in her.  She is finally eating again (maybe we can FINALLY start having her wear all of her 12 month clothes) and her vocabulary has grown dramatically.  They warned us that would happen, we just didn't think it would be so noticeable.  Our once very quite little girl is becoming quite the talker! 

Skyler is now a middle schooler!!!  Can you believe it?!  I know we can't!  Wrestling season has finally wrapped up and we are now in the middle of baseball season.  He is on the traveling team for the 10A Orange and is loving every second of it.  They have been on quite the winning streak and over the weekend were undefeated in all three of their games until the championship where they lost to Hastings!  It was quite the heartbreaker but they did a GREAT job and earned a spot in the State Tournament July 9-11.  Way to go Tigers!!!!  We have another tournament this weekend in Prior Lake, let's just hope for some better weather as we are getting quite tired of sitting in the rain!

Cash and Carter are definitely happy summer is here, although they would like the weather to improve as we purchased a pool at the end of May.  We had a few warm days but with all the rain it has definitely cooled the water down again.  Hopefully soon they will be able to use it!!!! 

Cash completed his first year of Wee Tigers preschool and loved every minute of it.  We debated about the preschool option for next year and finally decided he will stay a Tiger for one more year.  It is just so convenient for me and I just was not quite ready to pull him out of daycare and put him in the School Age Kids program in Randolph.

Carter has been in heaven the last two weeks as Cole FINALLY had her baby. It had become the question of the day at our house for quite some time as to when he was coming out of her tummy....She is just infatuated with Baby Levi!!!  He has now become her new best friend along side of Cole. I swear she would move in with Cole and Grant if we would let her. She is definitely a little mother hen to him.  We are so happy he is finally here!!!!

Between all of our running Josh and I managed to take our annual trip to the National Bowling Tournament.  This year it was held in Reno.  I actually bowled in the tournament this year as we had a few guys that normally go decide they would sit this year out.  Surprisingly, I did not do too bad which makes me wonder why they guys are constantly complaining about the shot.  Hmm?! Overall the trip was a lot of fun but it is always nice to come back home!!!!

Whirlwind

Wow, it has sure been crazy the last few weeks.  Between wrestling, gymnastics, bowling and swimming lessons we don't have many free nights.  Throw in travelling baseball try outs and our week is full every night of the week except Saturday night! 

Skyler particpated in the State Wrestling tournament in Rochester, March 12-14.  Unfortunately, he did not do as well a he had hoped (or Josh) but he wrestled two very tough kids.  He was pinned both times and the matches went very quickly so I do not have any pictures to post.  Trust me you wouldn't want to have seen them anyways.   Just when we thought the wrestling season was winding down the Freestyle/Greco season has started.  He has practice on Tuesday and Thursday and will continue going to Pinnacle on Sunday.  Needless to say he will be VERY busy especially once Traveling Baseball starts.  We had conferences tonight and he is doing GREAT!  It is a breath of fresh air to leave his conference with all good news...much better than past years!!!

Cash graduated from the Starfish swimming lesson program through Northfield and believe it or not he did finally go under the water.  I think we will take the summer off before moving to the next level.  A few weeks ago he took his first bus ride for his preschool field trip to Cub Foods.  Josh decided he would chaperone, he said it was quite the experience.  I think Cash's favorite part was the bus ride!!!  He is still talking about it.  Other exciting new is Cash has learned how to ride a 2 wheel bike without training wheels.  He still has his occassional falls but after about 3 days of praciting and quite a few spills he has almost mastered it.  By the end of April he will be a pro at it!

Carter is still loving her bimnastics (aka Gymnastics)!!!  She just can't get enough of it so we have decided to enroll both her and Cash in the next Spring session.  She also had her preschool screening through Randolph Schools. Josh took her as I took Cash last year.  He said she did great with the exception of the hearing exam.  She ended up failing that portion, he wasn't sure if she was just distracted or if she indeed didn't hear it.  She will be re taking it in the fall so fingers crossed she passes.

Charli has had a rough month after two ear infections she is finally on the mend and definitely has a case of Spring fever.  I think she would be outside from sun up to sun down if we let her.  She loves following her borthers and sister around the yard or just hanging out on the deck.

Let's Try This Again.....

Well, it has been over a year since the last time I posted.  Where does time go seriously!?! My goal is to update this on a monthly basis. I am really hoping with our new computer that will happen.  Our old one was so slow that it was just way too time consuming and with four kids that is something we do not have too much of. 

Wrestling season is in full swing right now.  Skyler and Cash are both wrestling for Farmington again this year.  They have practice every Tuesday and Thursday.  Skyler has also been attending Metro Mondays in Cannon Falls and recently started wrestling at Pinnacle on Sundays.  Most weekends are spent at wrestling tournaments around the Metro area.  Today we were at Benilde St. Margaret's...We were hoping Skyler would get the final points needed to qualify for State in March.  Unfortunately, he took 3rd so it looks like we will be heading to Park next Sunday in hopes of getting 5 more points!  Cash took his usual 4th place.  He loves every minute of it and usually is the crowd favorite!  Hopefully one of these tournaments he will bring home a first place medal/trophy!

Carter and Cash both started Gymnastics last Wednesdsay at the Northfield Gymnastics Club.  Unfortunately, I did not get any picures as parents are not allowed in the Gym.  So far both kids really enjoy it and we hope that will continue through the season.  Cash recently  started swimming lessons through Northfield Community Education.   So far they have just been working on getting kicks down and blowing bubbles under water.  His favorite is the tree game where they get to jump into the water at the end of the lesson! The goal by the end of the class is to get him to put his face under water.  I am not sure if we will make that goal?!?!  He is still quite hesistant when it comes to that.

Charli had her 15 month appointment on Friday.  Somehow I managed to talk Josh into taking her to the appointment.  Good thing, as I am told she cried the minute they put her on the scale until the minute they walked out of the clinic!  She weighed 20 lbs 8 ozs and is 31 inches long.   She is still quite the little peanut.  He vocabulary is slowly growing and can now say Dada, No, Owie and Mama....Her favorite word being NO!   

Well I think that is all for now...Hopefully the next post will be about Skyler qualifying for State!  Fingers Crossed!!!!

UGH! Where does the time go?!?!

Well another two weeks have come and gone and I realized I have not posted anything! Geez, you would think being on maternity leave I would be a little better at this blogging thing. I promise I will try and get better. Things are still going pretty smoothly at the Raymond house with the exception of me getting mastitis AGAIN! After another doctor appointment we have decided it is in my best interest to stop nursing Charli and switch her to formula. Luckily I have quite a bit of frozen milk so we can slowly start switching her over. Hopefully she tolerates it okay.

Here is Charli trying to enjoy some swing time.

Unfortunately for Charli her big sister usually interrupts her.

She is such a big helper ;)

Ahhh..Finally Charli is able to enjoy some peace and

queit in her swing!

Cash and Carter both have colds again so we are constantly chasing after them to wipe their snotty noses. UGH!?!? Hopefully this one is short lived.

Here are a few pictures over the last two weeks.

BUSTED! Carter is famous for waking Charli up when she is napping.

Needless to say the pack n play is no longer set up in the family room.

Cash wearing his silly face at Thanksgiving

Carter waiting patiently to leave for

Grandma & Grandpa's house on Thanksgiving

Skyler is busy into the wrestling season. He was originally signed up for the in-house program but after a few practices he has decided to switch to the competitive season. He is still unsure of doing the weekend tournaments but at least this gives him a little bit more of a taste for it. Unfortunately he celebrated Thanksgiving with his mom so we don't have any new pictures to post of him...I promise we should have some next time!

Introducing Charli Lynn...

Well, I really wanted to get this posted last week but things have not gone all that smoothly since coming home from the hospital. I think things are FINALLY starting to settle down and we are getting into somewhat of a routine. Cash and Carter are in LOVE with their new baby sister, Carter more so than Cash. She is never far from her side. Skyler is well...Skyler he has been through this so many times :)

Charli Lynn decided to finally make her appearance on Monday, November 3rd at 6:57 am. I was scheduled to be induced that day however; she had plans of her own. At 4:00 am I got up to go to the bathroom when I realized I was soaked. I honestly did not think it was my water and woke Josh up and told him I was pretty sure I peed the bed. He of course insisted it was my water, I was still not convinced as I was not having any contractions. I decided I better call the hospital just in case. The nurse laughed and said you better come in to get checked. I went up and told Josh I was going to take a shower (again I was still convinced I peed myself and I did not want it all over myself) by the time I was dressed I started having contractions. Turns out the shower might not have been such a good idea as on the way to the hospital the contractions really picked up. By the time we arrived they were about 3 minutes apart. We got checked in to our room around 5:15 or so where the nurse confirmed my water did break and I was dilated to 5 cm. At this time my contractions were one on top of each other. I asked her to please check me again and I was already a 7-8 cm. I really was hoping to have another natural child birth but these contractions were not like I remembered. I caved and opted for the epidural. Turns out by the time he was done inserting it I was fully dilated and ready to push, so much for the epidural! A few pushes later Charli Lynn entered the world weighing in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and 20 inches long.

Like I said we have had a few bumps in the road the past few weeks but we wouldn't trade it for anything! Thanks to everyone who have helped us out leading up to Charli's birth and afterwards during my sickness. We could not have done it without you!!!!

Fall Fun

Sunday we decided to take the kids to pick out their pumpkins. They had a lot of fun checking out the different farm animals, although I think Skyler and Cash had more fun climbing on the hay bails than actually picking out their pumpkins. Skyler came up with the idea of getting a small, medium and large pumpkin for each of their ages.

Check back later this week for pictures of them carving their pumpkins. I am guessing that should be quite interesting :)

Cash is turning 3!!!

Can you believe our little boy is turning 3 today!!! We had a birthday party with family and friends yesterday to help celebrate the big day. Cash chose to have three of his favorite things...Faghetti (aka Spaghetti), Root Beer Floats, and Brownies. He received a lot of great presents and was pretty wiped out after every one left last night.

We are still trying to convince him that 3 year olds do not wear diapers anymore...he is not convinced of this yet. Carter is showing more interest in the Elmo Potty Chair than he is. Hopefully he will come around sooner rather than later. I was hoping to have at least him out of diapers by the time the new baby arrived.

Here are a few pictures that Grandpa Larry sent us this morning from the birthday party. :)