The scariest day of our lives and some things to be thankful for

Have you ever had one of those moments where you feel like you are in a movie. I had one yesterday. Bradley, the kids Bailey(the dog) and I headed out around 10am to drive to VT to visit his family. We detoured to Falmouth to visit my Mother who recently had surgery.

We got through Boston and all was going well when it happened. And here it was a moment I felt like I was living in a movie. Our rear driver side tire blew out and we lost control. Our car spun around on 93 north across 4 lanes of traffic on the busiest travel day of the year. I remember being terrified. I remember think things like this don't happen to me. I remember thinking Oh My God my babies!! As we reached the breakdown lane we hit the guard rail and our car flipped onto it's side.

What seemed like hours was seconds! People surrounded our car! My kids were screaming. The baby slept through the whole crash! A gentlemen had Brad hand the kids out to him and then finally climbed in to help.  I was trapped in the passenger seat because of my seat belt. The dog was running around on the highway by himself as I yelled for someone to get him. Caleb finally grabbed him since he would not go to anyone else. I finally got undone by pushing myself up on the steering column. By then the police had arrived and they helped me go out through the tailgate of my van.

There standing on the side of the high were my children with complete strangers who stopped to help! And here is the amazing part of it all. No one had even a scratch on them. Our car was on its side on the highway and my children, my husband, our dog and our unborn baby were completely unharmed! 

And this is where my PSA is, the reason my children walked away without a scratch and my husband and I walked away without a scratch is because of proper seat belt and car seat use!! The baby (14 months today) was rear facing in his Graco Myride. My 5 year old daughter was 5 pt harnessed in her Britax marathon and my 6 year old was in a Recaro Vivo high back booster! I do not follow the minimums for car seat safety! I make sure my children do not have bulky coats on and I adjust straps every time I put them in their seats. Yes they were cold on the side of that highway waiting for their coats out of the car but they did not have a bump or a bruise on them.

So please remember your Children deserve to be safe!! And so do you, set the example by always wearing your seat belts.







The pictures do not do it justice. The frame seems bent but I could not get a good angle where I was at the towing yard.

Names!

Names are a very tricky thing! And the more kids you have the trickier it is. We had Caleb and Braeden picked out before we go married. Kylee we picked out before we were married also but I tried to change it when I was pregnant with her. When I was pregnant with Braeden we had picked out the name Mackenzie Jean if he had been a girl.

When we found out baby #4 was on the way I knew I did not want to use the name Mackenzie. I also knew we had not thought about a boys name in 7 years!! And girls name had always been a battle!  So I started throwing names out. Brad does not usually suggest names but will say yes or no to names. And so it began

Lilah, Lucy, Ava, Eden, and it went on and on and on. Finally after 7 years of being adamently against the name Charlotte I said to him if we name her Charlotte we can call her Charlie like Charlie Sheen and he was sold! Ummm his reason may not have been great but I was willing to take it to use such an awesome name! Then to come up with a middle name. I had a friend who passed away whose last name was Laurie. So to honor him I decided on Laurel. And so if #4 is a girl she will be Charlotte Laurel.

And then came boys names, it was many months Jonah, Seth, Collin, Micah, Graham. His middle name was set we just needed to pick a first name. It finally came down to Graham and Bennett. Before I was born my mom rented a room in a boarding house frome a woman named Inez Bennett. She was like another grandmother to me. She passed away 10 years ago but I wanted to honor her and so his name was chosen. If this baby is a boy he will be Bennett Cahill.

My boys

This morning I was sitting in the bathtub shaving my legs. I had the baby gate at the top of the stairs and Braeden trapped in the hallway(he loves playing there!) While shaving I hear thud thud thud followed by hysterical laughing. Soon Caleb came upstairs to climb over the gate to see what Braeden was doing.

Before too long both of my boys were laughing hystrerically while Braeden threw matchbox cars down the stairs. I love that even though they are so far apart in age they get along so well. I love listening them play together. Caleb is so amazingly sweet and so wonderfully patient with the baby. The two of them are like best friends!

I am so glad that I am their mom!!

And I think it is pretty darn cute that they are identical just 5 1/2 years apart!

The littlest Scribble!

Touch a Truck!

     We went to the mall one day and got lucky! They had touch a truck set up in the parking lot!     '
          The kids got to climb into all kinds of cool trucks and beep lots of loud horns!
                      Kylee loved controlling the air horn! It was so much fun!!

Halloween!

                                                     Every year we love going to the pumpkin patch!
                                       We take it seriously! Finding the perfect pumpkins is hard work!
                                                   This year our normal pumpkin patch was slim pickins!!!
                                                     They were either rotten or wierdly shaped!!
                                                         So we went to The Capeabilities farm!
                                                    It is a local farm run by developmentally delayed adults!
                                           Great cause and much better pumpkins! And they had wagons!!!
                                                   We picked the best pumpkins in the patch!!

                                              And Bradley worked hard to carve them!
                                                   The kids picked what they wanted.
                                   Flash and fish and of course an octopus for my little Octopus!
                                          Bradley did an amazing job! He is pretty talented!

                                             Then of course comes trick or treating
                                              Caleb was flash, Kylee was Rapunzel
                                             and sweet Braedy was an octopus!
                                       He loved this whole thing! Getting pushed around in the
                                       stroller being handed Candy! It really worked for him!

My amazing soon to be Sister in law was in Connecticut for work,

She wanted to meet up and we were so thrilled!

So we picked a middle location

Roger Williams Park Zoo!

We got there early so we took a nice walk.

The kids fooled around and threw rocks in the water!

I took advantage of the beautiful scenery to get pictures of the kid!

                            The zoo is very fun! They have a ton of animals and the kids loved it

                                 It was a great day! I am so happy my brother picked such a great girl!
                                He is kind of a pain so he got lucky to find someone who could handle him
                                                And it is a bonus that we all love her too!!
                                    I look forward to August when she becomes my sister!!
                                        And the bonus is my big kids get to be in the wedding!
                                                And we are going to DISNEYLAND!!!!

                                  Kylee was in the seaside festival parade again this year with
                                        3CA! The best cheer gym around! We sat in our usual
                                               spot and enjoyed time with awesome friends!

Congratulations Leah and Jeremiah Dewey!!

                                  We had the opportunity to go to the wedding of a good friend Leah!
                                   She made so many of the decorations herself! They were gorgeous!
                                   She is such a talented woman! The kids had a great time! and the food
                                                     was amazing!!! It was so wonderful!!!

             

Braeden James is 1!!!

                                           How did this year go by so fast?

                                             We had a great party with awesome friends!!
                                                   and a Braeden friendly egg free cake!

     

He loved it as you can tell.

This year has been an amazing whirlwind of fun. It has been so great to get to know this little man. To watch him learn and see him grow! I love watching him interact with the big kids.

He has been the perfect addition to the family. He is very mellow and easy going most of the time but gives attitude with the best of them! He is funny and wants to be involved in everything! He loves to be the center of attention and gets to be often. I love my little Braedy Bug!! And can not imagine life without him!!

                                        This year Caleb is in first gade and Kylee is in Kindergarten!
                                                 They both love school! Have great teachers and
                                                                     are learning a ton!!
                
                                Caleb has matured a ton since last year! And I hope the change continues!

                                                    

Kylee Jay is 5!!!

This year Kylee's birthday fell on a Sunday. So we planned her party that day.

Unfortunately Mother nature had other plans.

Hurricane Irene hit in the middle of her birthday party.

She still had quite a few friends show up and we had a nice BBQ in a Hurricane.

Daddy brought flowers home for her and she was so excited!

Halfway through her party the power went out! Never a dull moment for us! It did not come back for 2 days!! But her party was a success and she enjoyed it so much.

I am so glad she had so many awesome friends come to celebrate her!

I am one of those sappy sentimental girls who spend the day thinking about where I was at that moment.

Recalling the first time I saw her sweet face!

Holding her and cuddling her.

Remembering how beautiful she was and noticing how much more beautiful she has become.

I am so proud to be her mother! She keeps us on our toes and keeps us remembering what a blessing she is! And what a challenge she can be.

I can not imagine life without this stunning little beauty!!

Swimming Lessons

                                          Swimming lessons this year started out great!
                                                   We had excited kids and eager kids.
                                                         They were ready to learn.

And then day one Kylee lost it all! She cried and cried. She did not want to do it! Her group had 6 kids and 3 adults but the poor kid wanted nothing to do with it. Day 2 was the same. Day 3 she wanted to quit! I had a conversation with the instructors. I explained that Kylee had nearly drown 2 years before and was a little nervous in the water. The next day They assigned Pat to be Kylee's buddy. Which worked because Kylee has a thing for older men. He walked with her and talked to her and was low pressure while trying to get her to do some swimming. Day 5 was much the same as day 4.

By the second week Kylee would run to the water and jump in and out. She did not do everything that was asked but she had a major improvement! By the time it ended Kylee was begging for another session of swimming lessons. He instructors were wonderful and so great with her!!

Caleb just jumped right into swimming lessons! He did so great and loved every minute of it! He improved so much in the 2 weeks that he was there it was amazing! But he always has been my water baby!!!

Now Braeden enjoyed the water from a distance. He enjoyed sitting on the beach watching the big kids and working on his tan.

And now we are all tan and got to enjoy 10 beautiful days at West Dennis Beach!

Quack Quack Quack!!

We were given a visa gift card by an amazing friend, the stipulation was to use it to have fun!

So we went on a duck boat! It was a lot of fun! We drove down main st. And then back south st and right into the waters of Hyannis Harbor! It was a gorgeous day and the kids had duck whistles and we all had so much fun. It is something we have wanted to do for a while and just had not gotten to it! I am glad we did!

                                        We followed it up with a trip to one of my favorite restaurants!
                                                              The Olive Garden!
                                          We all love the salad and bread sticks and enjoyed the company!
                                                       I really love the quality time with my family!!

Barnstable County Fair 2011

Every year we make sure to go to the Fair!

We plan ahead and go on wrist band day.

The only ride Brad and I do every year is the Ferris Wheel!

                                       Then we let the kids go on all the rides they like.
                                           For $20 they get to ride anything and everything
                                                                   And they do!

                                    Then we check out all the animals!! And hold baby chicks!

                    This year we planned our visit to coincide with the concert by Thompson Square.
                             We packed a picnic dinner and sat down on a blanket and enjoyed the show!
                                                   We wrestled and played and picnicked!
                                     and no trip to the fair would be complete without fried dough!!

                   

I love Family fun!!!!!

Help

Can someone help me find my energy and ambition??? My house is a wreck and my kids are bored and I cant get off my butt!!!! SAVE ME!!

little bean!!

I went for an ultrasound tonight and according to my last period I should have been 9 weeks 1 day. I knew that was not accurate which is why I was going in. So I go in and I get this male ultrasound tech. He is not allowed to do the internal ultrasound himself, has to have a female in the room it is policy and they are not allowed to skip patients(annoying but understandable)

He Brings me in the room asks a few questions and puts the ultrasound wand on my belly and says umm those dates are off by 4-5 weeks. ummm if I was 4-5 weeks pregnant I would not have gotten a positive pregnancy test 3 weeks ago b ut nice try. He kind of freaked me out. He finished the external ultrasound and leaves me while I am wicked worried and tries to find a female to sit in the room. He could not find one so he traded patients and I got a really nice(and accroding to Brad really hot) girl.

She came in and set it up and knowing we were worried went directly to the baby instead of the other measurments and and baby is measuring at 6 weeks 1 day and is due March 1st. It had a tiny little heartbeat of 112-114. Everything looks good

Independence Day

To celebrate Independence day we started with a parade on main st in Hyannis.

                                            It was a really nice parade and the kids loved it!

                    Take a peak at this rare occurrence I am always on the other side of the camera!!

 We then went down to the beach and met up with some friends for pizza, swimming Frisbee and fun!

 

 Kylee swam a little but spent most of her time hanging out with the boys

on the lifeguard tower!                                  

We are in trouble with her love of older boys!

                 Braedy bug hung out with his favorite person in the whole world our friend
                                                         (and amazing baby sitter) Dawn

                            Caleb spent most of his time in the water! He is such a little fish!!

 The kids all got decorated in glow stick splendor and most of them posed for me to take pictures!

                       At the end of the day my kids were dirty and tired but they had a great day!
                                               (and the big ones slept til 9 the next day)

And now I want to take the time to share my gratitude for living in the country we do so that I can have freedom! I am so grateful for all the people who have made that possible!!

Walks

This summer I have started something different. I have been getting up early and having breakfast and then the kids and I walk everyday. It has been sooo nice. I put Braeden in the double jogging stroller and sometimes Kylee climbs in too and we just walk. We walk about a mile and a half everyday and it has been so nice!

This morning I slept in(Thank you Bradley) and when I got up the kids started asking about going for a walk. By then it had gotten to hot! I love that it has become part of our daily schedule! So tonight we all went for a walk after the temperature went down. I find that with this excercise I feel better and the kids behave better and we have good conversations while we go.

Summer has arrived

And what better way to celebrate than to run through the sprinkler!!

                        Caleb and Kylee Loved it! They filled buckets and watered plants!

                                Caleb fought the water with his sword (not sure who won)

                                    Braedy Bug was not as in love with the sprinkler!

                        He was more content to sit in his diaper on a blanket with his Mommy!

A Great time was had by all!!!