my boys...

Life has been busy around here lately!

But my favorite thing to see is this:

But most of the time it looks like this:

It's a little easier than I thought to be at home with 2! Now keaving the house is a little different story!!!

Big Brother

My 3 boys!!
Eli is a GREAT big brother! I was worried how he would react to all the change, but he has been amazing! He loves to hold Cole, gives him his pacifier, rocks him, pats his bottom, wants to feed him (which he can't really do yet!). He always wants to know where Cole's at and what he's doing! When he cries he says, "What does Cole need?" I could not ask for a better big brother. I'm SOOO proud of him and love him with all of my heart!!

Cole Tyler pictures

Dont worry we didnt pay for the hat.

Eli says "Im a Big Brudder"

Official Weight 7 lbs 4.4 Oz.

Coles first smile(sorry for the nudity)

Cole Tyler Kirtley

I will post pictures soon, but for now here is the information!

Cole Tyler Kirtley arrived this morning at 9:43am.
Weight: 7 lbs. 4oz
Length: 18 1/2 inches

Everyone is doing great! (Say a little prayer for Eli b/c he started running a fever this afternoon!)

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts!

nervous

I've been up since 5am...this time not from Eli! I woke up and have not been able to go back to sleep!

Today is my last day of work for 6 weeks. I have a lot of mixed emotions about everything.

I'm SO excited to meet this little guy and have him join our family.

On the other hand, I'm feeling sad for Eli. I don't think he really understands what is about to happen. I know he'll love his brother, but I feel bad that he has to be away from us for so long while we're in the hospital. I wonder what his reaction will be? Will he be sad to see me in the hopsital? Will he not really care? I guess we'll find out soon enough!

I'm also getting really nervous about the c-section and recovery. It was not a horrible experience for me the first time, so I'm not sure why I'm so worried. I think it might be b/c I know what to expect! With Eli I had no idea...just walked in there waiting to see what will happen!

So today I will say goodbye to my class for a while...which I happen to enjoy! Hopefully I will get some better sleep tonight, but I'm not counting on it!!

blessed

I am so blessed to work with the wonderful people that I do. They are so thoughtful and truly caring about other people. This past week has been hard for me, but I couldn't have gotten through it working anywhere else. All of the smiling faces...giving me words of encouragement. It has made these last few days before the baby is born been very pleasant!

Today I got to work and was told I need to go check out the teacher's lounge. Well...usually that means that someone is annoucing their having a baby. (We have a tradition at our school that when you're expecting, you bring donuts to annouce it!) When I walked in, I saw this:

(This wasn't the order I wanted my pictures, but my blog is being difficult and I can't switch them around!)

The lovely lady in the on the couch put this together for me. She said she was so proud of me for coming back to work...you know, starting the school year and being 9 months pregnant! It brought tears to my eyes. Here I thought I was just doing my job....why would I do anything different? It makes me feel like I did make the right decision. Even though I had lots of people telling me I was crazy for going back and people kept telling me I should just be at home.

The funny part of this: I walked in the lounge and was looking at it all and had NO idea it was for me! I saw the sign that said, "What's so special about August 21st?" Jokingly, I said, "Well, that's when I'm having my baby!" Then the signs were pointed out to me that it was FOR me! Wow, was I humbled! I was just kidding!

So I will walk away from these awesome people for 6 weeks. I know they will help keep things going in my classroom with helping out my sub. They will put together meals, which has been decided to do after I come back to work. Awesome! One less thing to worry about!

I am so lucky to work where I do and be surrounded them great people! It makes going back to work in 6 weeks a little easier!

the plan...

So, the plan is to have this baby Friday morning. Yesterday, my birthday, I was having contractions. Finally around 5:30pm they had me come into the hospital to get checked out. I was having contractions, but they wanted to check and make sure it wasn't a bladder infection or dehydration that would be causing the contractions.
Nope...they were contractions.
Next...they checked to see if I was having any "cervical changes." Which means...have I dialated at all.
Nope....nothing.
What does this mean???
They kept me overnight to make sure they didn't start getting worse or that "the changes" didn't start happening.
Again, NO! I had an IV all night and the contractions seemed to stop.
So...they sent me home this morning! NO baby!
That's ok...the plan is to have the baby Friday and I wasn't really ready to have him last night! I'm not on any restrictions as of now. I can still go to work...just need to relax when I can and drink plenty of fluids.
IF....they start back up and get worse, we will go back in and have the baby!!
SO....the plan is still to have the baby on Friday morning! Although I was told to go home and get everything ready just in case!

megan

Aaron's sister Megan has been in town these past 2 weeks and yesterday was her birthday! She wanted to have a "real" birthday party because she's been out of the country so much and hasn't gotten to celebrate her birthday in a LONG time!

Megan was in Japan 2 years ago when Eli was born. Then she was living in Seattle for a year. Last year she was living in Poland. She just got back from Poland this summer and is heading off to Hawaii for grad school. She's a busy lady! We wish she were closer, but she's getting to do some amazing things!

So, last night we had a "real" birthday party! A yard sign...party hats....noise makers...presents

The 3 siblings....Megan, Aaron, Nikki (Aaron is the oldest, then Megan, then Nikki!) Can you see how strong those Kirtley genes are??!!!

Aunt Megan and Eli

Happy Birthday!!!!

Noise makers had to go outside!! Aunt Nikki and Eli spent quite a bit of time out there!!

Of course Eli had to help Aunt Megan open her presents!

Megan, we hope you had a great day! We are so glad we actually got to spend your birthday with you this year! You are an amazing person and we are blessed to have you in our lives. We wish that we could see you more, but are very proud of everything you have done in your life. Good luck in Hawaii and we can't wait to see you soon!

little farmer....or cowboy!

Can you guess what Eli is going to be for Halloween??

Yep...he'll be a farmer! You can call it a cowboy, but he calls himself a farmer!!

He wore this to the bull blowout. It was SO hot.....I made him take his hat off until the sun went down. Look how sweaty his head is!

This would be the point where he was dancing to the music. He took his cowboy hat off and said, "Yehaw!!!"

Maybe his little brother can be his horse....or a cow!!!

harvery county fair

Every year I look forward to the Harvery County Fair. It is kind of bitter sweet b/c for teachers, it means it's the end of our summer! I have to go back to work on Friday. This past weekend Newton has had the Harvey County Fair. I can't believe the weather! It's been perfect outside! I think the highest it got during the day was low 90's! For August...that's AWESOME!!!! The evening's have been perfect for things like this:

As much as Eli loves animals, you know he like these!!

They had cows, but I didn't get a good picture of them. I already felt a little strange taking pictures of people's animals!

Then there was the parade Saturday evening.... the classic firetruck!

And another one of Eli's favorites....the "John Deere Tactor"

Then we were off to the demolition derby last night...... I didn't realize this until we got there, but it was $8 a person. I about choked.....really? $8 for a demolition derby?? Wow!

Eli's favorite part of the demolition derby....that's right, the tractors that pulled the cars out of the mud! This is "Farmer Mike", Amy and Lane on his tractor. I think that's what we heard about all night! "Where's Farmer Mike and tractor?" (Eli has gotten to ride this tractor a couple of times!)

There is one more night....the Bull-Blowout. We will take Eli to that so he can see the horses and bulls!

I love living in a small town to experience county fairs! It's so much fun! Too bad it comes at the end of the summer! If you've never gone....you should go!!!