Fourth of July

This Fourth we didn't really do anything all that exciting, I got these shirts for the boys to wear so I had to get a picture with them wearing them. We did go to a ward activity in the morning where only about 15 other people attended, we were hoping to meet some people, and we did, but not as many as we hoped to meet.

Our next door neighbors were kind enough to let us watch their fireworks display, and there were a lot of other displays we could see through the neighborhood, one neighbor decided to do fireworks until 1 in the morning which we were less than thrilled about. I thought this picture was kind of cool because you can see the smoke from the fireworks.

Here is just a random picture of Nathan that I just took this morning for those who want more pictures of him.I thought this was a cute picture of Alan snuggling with Nathan.
Yesterday the boys woke me up yelling excitedly "Mom come to our room we have a surprise for you." These words can send fear into a mother, because more than not a surprise is not a welcomed surprise, I mind raced through the possibilities of what kind of surprise they could have possibly been working on. But oh what a nice surprise I found when I got there. The boys had worked together to make their beds without even being asked. They were really sweet all day yesterday too, so I hope they are starting to get back to their normal selves and settling in.

More Pictures of Nathan

Alan's Birthday and Father's Day

We were really excited to celebrate Alan's birthday this year. We made him a banner and got him a couple of presents. The boys also made him some homemade cards.
We cooked Alan one of his favorite meals and for dessert we had cheesecake with raspberries, yummy.

Father's Day we celebrated with another one of Alan's favorite meals. Here Alan is hanging out with all of his boys.
Sammy and Jakie made him some ties for Father's Day. They are liking their new Sunbeam class, but miss their Waco friends and teacher. But they were excited to give Alan his ties.
We love you Alan!

Nathan in the NICU

I thought I would post some pictures of Nathan's stay in the NICU to document it a bit.


Here is Nathan all hooked up to the machines. He had to be on oxygen for the first two days and then he was just hooked up to the heart monitor, oxygen sensor, and IV after that.
Cute Boy!
Mom and Nathan
Dad and Nathan
Papa and Nathan
Moma and Nathan

Nathan when we were taking him home. He is such a good baby, he sleeps 5-8 hours a stretch at night which is wonderful, and he doesn't usually fuss too much unless something is wrong. His brothers really love him and maybe smother him just a bit.

Home Sweet Home

So here is a little update on our little Nathan. He came "home" last friday, meaning Alan and I got to take him out of the hospital and drive the 3 1/2 hours to Sugar Land (near Houston) where he moved us in the Saturday before. My parents came and helped us by watching the boys for us for the week in Sugar Land while we stayed in Waco with Nathan. It is really nice to have him with us and to be in our new home. Alan started work on Monday and the boys are starting to get back into a normal routine. I hope to be able to post more pictures of Nathan and some of our place here sometime soon. Things are still a little crazy with me not being able to really do as much as I would like because of my c-section and trying to juggle Sammy, Jakie, and a new baby and with Alan trying to help me and also trying to get into the swing of things with his new job, so I don't know when that will happen. Hopefully soon.

Our New Little Man!

We had a little boy early Tuesday morning!! We cannot be happier to have him as an addition to our home. We were sad that he didn't come naturally, but he didn't likely because he was so big. Nathan John Gunnell weighed in at 9lbs 8oz and 22in long born on June 8th at 1:34 am. He was 10 days overdue, but he would still have been a big baby despite the extra time.

Nathan just before they took him the the nursery for some more tests. He has some awesome bushy eyebrows!

Minda with him just after he was born waiting in recovery.

Both of the boys were able to come and see him and hold their new baby brother. They were really excited for him to come. So excited that it was a short little time before we had to have them go.

Jacob holding Nathan!

Sam holding Nathan!


Grandma Jane was also able to come and see him. She wasn't left alone too much during her turn though.

Minda has already been discharged! We are really grateful for the speed of her recovery so far. This is also significant because Nathan had to be moved to the other hospital in town for further treatment. He has had low platelet counts, so much so that he needs to be in the NICU for almost a couple of weeks to kill the infection that is causing him trouble right now. He is already making improvements since his transfer to Hillcrest early this morning. He is strong and we are feeling confident that he will be okay, but we are not past the point of really worrying about him.

More post to come I'm sure and pictures too.

Preschool Party and Bowling

Recently the boys finished up their first year of preschool and we celebrated at Chuck E Cheese with a little party with their classmates. It was one of the first times the boys had ever been to Chuck E Cheese and they loved it. We had a little awards ceremony with the families and the boys were really excited about it all.
Jacob opening up a little graduation present.
Sam with his present.

Since we have had Alan's mom staying with us to help us with the boys while I have this baby (yes I am still pregnant) we have been doing some fun things. One thing we did was go bowling with Grandma Jane.
Daddy and Jakie
Sammy and Grandma Jane

Here I am bowling in an attempt to get Nathan moving. I won by the way, kind of surprising considering my condition.
In preparation for Jane's arrival the boys made their own beds, it was really cute because they were helping each other and were so proud of themselves.

Now we are just waiting to see if this baby will come on his own or if I will have to get a c-section, which I am definitely not excited about.

Still Pregnant

Yes, we are still pregnant, the due date is Friday and we are ready any day now. I have tried walking and moving around a lot to encourage any sign of a contraction but to no avail. We are moving in 2 1/2 weeks so we really want this little guy to come in the next week, pray for us that he does please.

If you have any great ideas on how to get this little guy motivated to leave my uterus please leave a comment.

Celebrating

Ever since last summer our boys have been mildly obsessed with going to the chain restaurant Chili's. I don't know exactly why, maybe it was the big chili on the sign that was intriguing to them, I really have no idea. But somewhere along the way Alan and I told them that when Daddy gets a job we would go to Chili's. So then every time we passed a Chili's the boys would remind us that when Daddy got a job we would go to Chili's, this was usually followed by a lot of yeah's and hoorays and clapping. I don't know what exactly they thought would happen when we went to Chili's but they were exited about it. Well, as many of you know Alan took a job offer at a company called Microseismic, it is in Houston and we are moving there in about a month, so we realized we needed to take the boys to Chili's. In fact that was one of the first things they told us when we told them about the job.

Here our the boys and Dad waiting for a table, the boys loved the little device they give you so you know when it's your turn.Sammy and Daddy at our table.
Mommy and Jakie, this kid loves to make funny faces and so it is hard for me to find "nice" pictures of him.

The boys loved coloring before the meal and getting their own cups with straws. I don't know if it met their expectations, but it was nice to celebrate Alan's new job. Congratulations Alan!

Guesses anyone?

So I am nearing the 38 week mark of this pregnancy and I thought I would play a little game on here to see you can guess the weight of baby Nathan John (yes that is his name) and his length and the date you think he will come. I don't know if there will be a prize or not for this, mostly because we are moving as soon as this little guy is born and I don't know when I would get to that but if you win you will have the satisfaction of knowing you are a great guesser.

So leave your guesses in the comments section. If it helps any (and I don't think it will) Sammy and Jakie were around 17 1/2 inches and between 5 lbs 5 oz and 5 lbs 14 oz and they were born 5 weeks early and my due date is May 28th for Nathan.

Randomness

This week the boys have been very involved with making train tracks and running cars and trains over them.

Sam has worked really hard on his drawing skills. If you can't tell this is a picture of his mommy. The circle in the middle is baby Nathan in my belly, he even drew the umbilical cord if you can see it.

a little better picture of it
I was busy making a baby shower cake, it was the first I have done for pay, it was challenging because of the humidity here, but it turned out alright I guess. I didn't think of taking a picture of it until it was already in a box.
I thought it was time to document how big I am, I wanted to compare how big I am now at 36 weeks with how big I was with the boys when I delivered them, that was around 35 weeks but I didn't get a picture then, this will have to do. I have already packed my old pictures so I will have to wait to show a side by side of both the pics. Friday I will be at 37 weeks. Yikes, that is really soon.

This is just a random picture of me reading to the boys, I have been reading to them a lot because I haven't been able to play with them and find myself sitting a lot more than usual.

The Traditional Easter Picture

We have taken pretty much the same picture in the same spot for the past three years so I have to share how the boys have changed over the last couple of years. It is funny because the shirt they are wearing is the same shirt they are wearing in the last picture, I guess we need to buy some new shirts, they look way too small on them now.


2008

2009
2010

Photo Op

Over the last couple of weeks I have had this photo bug where I have felt the need to document more of the boys lives in pictures. This may have to do with the fact that I know that there is a baby coming soon and that my focus may be on other things, but whatever the cause the boys haven't exactly wanted to be the perfect models for me in fact I think they have felt more like victims of my insistence on always taking pictures.
This last week we went up to visit my Uncle Tracy and Aunt Glenda in McKinney Texas after dropping Alan off at the Love Field Airport. We got there a little early and decided to go to the park and wait for them to get home from church. Obviously this was the perfect opportunity to take pictures, right? Jacob was less than thrilled about it and Sam wouldn't sit still.

This is a typical Jacob scowl which he has perfected through the years and really loves to pull out during a photo shoot. Unfortunately this was the only "usable" shot because all the other shots were of the back of their heads. Later that week we went to the zoo and I once again attempted to take pictures of the boys. Sam was willing.

Jacob was not.
I attempted to get him to cooperate several times, I will not tell you I am above a bribe to get a good picture, but even that didn't seem to work. So Sam in his brilliance decided to take things into his own hands and get Jacob to smile.

This seemed to do the trick.
Unfortunately Sam decided all of his good pictures were taken by then so this is what I ended up with.

Oh Well, I will just have to try again. Lucky them.