Christmas pageant

Bryant had his Christmas pageant at Parent's Day Out yesterday. He was one of the three Wisemen and did such a great job. If you haven't watch a grand performance by 3 and 4 year olds recently, I highly recommend you find one to watch. (I tried to upload one so you could have the great experience but it wouldn't work :( It is such a joy and can bring a big smile to your face.

Randomness

Here are some random updates from my family to yours :O

Chad is completing his radiation this week!!! WooHoo!! He's done great and all has been well. He'll be super happy to not have to drive to Dallas everyday at lunch. He'll continue to have check-ups to see if it all worked so we just continue to pray the tumor does not grow any more.

I went to the eye doctor last week and kept joking that they better not find anything wrong with my eyes. Well, lo and behold, they did. I have a small hole in my retina. The doctor said it is not doing anything right now but wants to keep and eye on it. I will go back in 4 months to check how all of that is going. We pray that it heals and nothing comes of this.

Bryant and Casey had strep last week. Not fun times at all around the Sands' house then. It really did a number on Bryant and the poor boy was pretty sick for a couple of days. On Monday, Casey ran fever and had an ear infection. Sweet baby Dayden has stayed clear of these illnesses but the poor thing has a yucky cold, which we are hoping is coming to an end. It's been a glorious week of the yucks around here. Oh how I love winter time :)

Dayden turned 2 months old recently and has grown quite a bit. He weighed in at 13lbs 2oz. That's a whopping 4lbs more than his birth weight. He is such a sweet little boy who loves to smile and "talk". He likes to try to sit up while you're holding him. He's ready to be a big boy and play with his brothers. Thankfully his brothers still love him...for now!!

That's the Sands' wrap up of the past week or so. It's been busy, entertaining, fun, and sometimes not so fun, but it's been great :)

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in Breckenridge. We got to see and visit with a lot of family. We showed off Dayden and Bryant and Casey just showed off :)

Ashley, Chad, and I completed the first "annual" AAC Turkey Trot!!!

Dayden's first Thanksgiving and as you can see he is "thankful for mommy"!

Our precious family

All the great grandbabies..Bryant, Casey, Dayden, and Alyssa.

Pendleton family

Bryant feeding the goats jalepenos at Grandma and Papaw Doyle's.

Casey loving the goat :)

Me and my favorite sister!!!

We have so much to be thankful for...We are healthy. We have plenty of food, clothes, and a warm house. We have amazing family and friends. We are free. Thank you God for all our many blessings!!

All Smiles

We're all smiles around here. Even Dayden is smiling with joy! That's right he started smiling at us last week at a whole 6 weeks old. I caught a glimpse of one with the camera. I'll get it uploaded soon.

Speaking of smiles, we went to Breckenridge this past weekend to get our family portraits done. The kiddos did so good. But was Dayden all smiles that day? Of course not!!!! You can't have smiles all the time :)

Pictures are worth a thousand words!

Growing Boys

Two of the boys recently had check ups and it's been determined that they are going to grow up no matter how much we don't want them to.

Casey had his 18 month appt and we learned that he weighs 25lbs and is 31 1/2 inches. They said that he should come back for a height check in a month because he hadn't grown any (according to their records which could've just been wrong last time) and he's in the lower percentile for height. I'm not quite sure I'll take him back. What would they do anyways? Tell us he's not gonna be 6ft tall. Casey is quite the chatterbox. He says several words but still jabbers a lot. He loves to hear himself. He also loves to be an idependent crazy little boy.

Dayden had his 2 week checkup (really almost 3 weeks) and he weighed 10lbs 3oz and was 22 inches. He's huge! The dr was just hoping he had gained back to his birth weight but he gained a whole pound and ounce more and grew an inch. Wow!!!! He likes to eat. What can I say? He's been a pretty good little baby up until last Friday when he started crying (read screaming) in the evening. He's recently developed a snotty/stuffy nose so that's not helping. We're hoping he goes back to our good no crying baby when he feels better :)

Bryant had an ENT checkup and it was determined that he can hear :) The ENT checkups are kind of silly but they like to make sure his tubes are still doing good I guess. We know he's growing too because a few of his jeans are now high waters! He's been quite the good big brother. He, of course, has his moments of meanness but so does Casey. I appreciate his help, like getting diapers, getting me some water, helping with Casey. He's just been a good helper. He is still loving school which is a good thing since in less than a year he will be going every day :(

Chad had a dr appt today and should begin his 6 weeks of radiation next week. He'll be driving close to downtown Dallas everyday (in some traffic) and I'll be here with the kiddos most of the day. It will not be a fun 6 weeks but you gotta do what you gotta do. We'll all survive and pray that this will stop the growth of the tumor.

Me, well, I'm here and doing good. I've managed a full week with me and the kids alone during the day and we survived!! I say that's doing pretty darn good :) We've been blessed with some great friends bringing us dinner last week and this week so that has helped alot. We'll see if when the dinners stop if we can manage cooking a dinner with all the wee ones running around. Oh, and I can wear real clothes again!!!

PICTURES....finally!

He's Here!!!!!

Dayden Andrew Sands arrived Sunday, September 27 at 11:49 am. He weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 21in long. Thank goodness we got him out when we did! He's a big boy! Everyone is doing great. Bryant, of course, loves his new baby brother and Casey, well, he's still just Casey. I don't think he really cares. He lives in his own little world :) Pics to come later.

Hi Ho Hi Ho Off to School We Go!

OK, that's not really what all this post is about but it sounded good :) Everyone here is well, the baby is still hanging in there, we've been playing and hanging out, Bryant started preschool, I had a couple of great baby showers, and all it's done for 3 days now is rain. That pretty much sums up what's been up since I last updated. Here are some pics to better fill ya in on our days.

The boys having Kool-Aid pops on our last summer time fun day!

Casey eating a cookie in the pool.

Bryant showing us his muscles. Watch out Hercules!

Bryant and Daddy before Bryant's first day of preschool.

Mommy and Bryant (disregard the not so good pic of Mommy :)

Casey and Bryant

Bryant on his way to his last first day of preschool.

Super Bryant

Super Casey

Silly boys with their Easter baskets...what happens when Mommy is gone!

Bryant decorating a birthday box for homeless kids at a playdate.

Hopefully one of my last pregnancy pictures. Here I am 37 weeks 4 days.

Doctors, Doctors, and more Doctors

We have had quite a past 24 hours to say the least. Sunday afternoon, Casey woke up from his nap screaming and crying. We thought he might be constipated so we took such measure to no avail. He just wanted to be held and would lie on us and sleep off and on waking up every 15 minutes or so to cry and moan. It was horrible. He just had an out of it look. We ended up taking him to an urgent care Sunday night. He didn't have fever, no ear infection, throat looked great, no gastroenteritis, so he ended up with an enema for possible constipation. That worked but was not a fix. He did go to sleep when we got home though.

I woke up 1:30 with cramping and contractions. Not my idea of fun! Casey soon woke up around 2:15 or so crying. He felt hot so we gave him Motrin and Chad layed with him under a fan until he fell asleep. All the while, I was still having contractions coming every 4-8 minutes. So needless to say, we called Ashley at 3:00am (on her first morning of school, bless her heart) to come over and stay with the boys and we headed to labor and delivery. There I received 2 shots over the next 2 hours to stop the contractions. After 4 hours, I finally got to go home with a perscription of the medication to stop contractions if needed again.

Casey on the other hand, was not doing too well when we got home. We got him into his regular dr and found out he has the flu!! Who gets the flu in the heat of the summer????? In case you didn't know, it's apparently going around! CRAZY!!!!!!!! That's my life. We can't wait for bedtime around here :)

Haircut day!!!

Sunday, we took Casey to get his very first haircut ever! It was a tough decision for Momma but I knew it was time.

Casey's hair before

The boys play while we wait.

In the car and ready for the ride.

The very first snip

and he's not too sure about it.

All done and very handsome.

The back after

Casey showing off his sticker to big brother, Bryant.

Afterwards, we went to a swim party with church.

Just an added bonus of messy Casey eating a cupcake!

And Bryant eating a Kool Aid popsicle.