It's Official!

Well - My "DREAM VACATION" is booked. I couldn't be more excited. We chose the Occidental Grand Xcaret located on a private lagoon in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It is an exclusive, all-inclusive, 5 star vacation resort. So, so excited. Now it's time to get in shape. I only have exactly two months to do it. Any suggestions? Jaime?

Anyway - here are some photos of the beautiful place we are going! Yeah!

Hopefully my photos turn out this beautiful!

Wow - 13 Years!

Well - Darren and I just celebrated 13 years together. I wouldn't exactly say "celebrated" seeing that we both worked that day and had an infant that didn't go to sleep until 1:30 am. But - regardless, we exchanged gifts and promised each other another happy 13 years. Darren gave me some beautiful diamond earrings, much larger than the ones he previously gave me and all he got was a love letter - poor guy. We hope to celebrate it over dinner soon and then we are currently planning our "dream vacation" to Xcaret Mexico. We can't wait. It's an all-inclusive, exclusive resort that is absolutely breathtaking. We are scheduled to go the first of October - pray for good weather huh?

Anyway - we were married before the digital age apparently because none of our pictures are digital except one. So - take a look at before marriage and after 13 years.

BEFORE:



AFTER:



I know that Darren knows how much I love him but I wanted you to all know that he is the best thing that ever happened to me and I am extremely happy to be married to him.

I have been bad at NOT taking new pictures these last couple of weeks so I thought I would post some more pictures taken by Dan. Love them!

An Impromtu Photoshoot!

Dan, Darren's big brother, was in town to photograph a wedding. With all of his equipment here - we decided to have family pictures taken. I haven't been able to go through all of them yet but here is a sneak peak. I obviously didn't plan on this photoshoot thus the oversized clothing on my little baby. I hope to post more soon!

Beware of the Booger Sucker!

Okay - if you are a mom, you will find this funny. If you are not - you might find this gross. Unfortunately for me - I was attacked by the booger sucker.

You all know what the booger sucker looks like right?



This crazy looking blue ball that each of us steal from the hospital only to find out later that it actually cost us $150 because the hospital billed us for it. Anyway - Pierson was diagnosed with whopping cough last week so I have spent this last week administering medicine and sucking snot out of his poor little nostrils. Well - the whole family just happened to be sitting around the baby earlier this evening when I decided to suck some boogers hoping to free his airways. Even Uncle Dan joined us by cell phone (Darren is glued to his phone with either Dan or Don on the other end).

Anyway - I am showing Blaze how the booger sucker works because it was visible that little Pierce needed help breathing so I begin sucking one out (this just means that I squeezed the blue ball, stuck it up his nose and then let go making the suction pull the booger out - for those of you who have never used one). I then go to squeeze the booger out onto a kleenex but every time I squeeze - I just hear it but can't see it. This is were the attack happens. The idiot in me - turns the blue ball around to look at why it's not coming out but at the same time squeezes the ball forcing the booger out - AND SHOOTING MYSELF IN THE NECK WITH IT! Gross - the kids were horrified to see baby snot on my neck, meanwhile Darren is laughing and didn't hesitate one second to tell Dan who is still on the phone. I am sure I am not the first to be attacked by boogers but I can promise that this will be the last time I look down the barrel of a booger sucker!

Yellowstone - Boys Only!

Darren had a couple days off from school and work this last week and decided to take the boys to Yellowstone - another BOYS ONLY adventure! They fed the bears, saw moose and buffalo and went on a 4-hour hike. They had a ton of fun staying in a huge cabin outside the park with another family. I on the other hand - enjoyed a quiet week ALONE with my baby!

Week 5!

Just thought I would post a couple of updated photos of our little baby! He has blue eyes - surprised? He is now 6 lbs 12 ounces, one day he might reach 7 pounds.

An Expensive Lesson on Bribery!

I just wanted to let you all know that Darren learned an important lesson on bribery this weekend. Here is why:

Last soccer season, Canon wasn't very aggressive , kind of ran behind the pack, and got "tired" a lot. This was quite frustrating for us to see as you can imagine. So... this year, as an incentive to get Canon to play better, harder, whatever...Darren promised to take him to Disneyland if he scored 5 goals. He only had 7 games to accomplish this goal. After the fourth game and no goals, Darren felt pretty safe that he wouldn't have to worry about Disneyland. Then during the 5th game (the day after his brother was born) he told his grandparents that he hoped to score 3 goals during the game. That is just what he did. He scored 3 goals in one game making his goal closer than we anticipated. He had his 6th game yesterday and because his grandma came to the game - he scored the last two. The 5th and most exciting goal happened with only 30 seconds left in the game. The whole sidelines overheard us talking about this last important goal to score so when he did it - the sidelines roared with cheers. He was so so excited - he wanted to smile and cry but said he would be too embarrassed.

So - it looks like Darren and Canon will be planning a father/son trip in the near future. After Canon scored the 5th goal - I began to realize that this just isn't an "ice cream cone", or a special "toy" or a fun night out... this is DISNEYLAND and that is expensive. This "BRIBE" is going to cost me $1000.

Lesson to all of you - be careful what you bribe your kids with.

Classic Blaze!

So - we are sitting on the deck this evening and Darren is doing his usual - telling Canon to get him this, get him that, go get me this.....After me telling Darren to give Canon a break, he turns to Blaze and asks him to go in the garage, open the truck, bring him something from the front seat, etc.. I look at Darren and tell him to stop - I then say "Blaze is 4, he shouldn't be doing those things for you, yet.." Blaze looks right at Darren with his usual smirk and attitude says "Kids don't work!" He then walks away....

Too funny!

Pierson - Week Two!

Update on little Pierson!
Week Two: 5 lbs 9 ounces, 18.5 inches, healthy!!!




We pulled out infant pictures of both Canon and Blaze and we definitely think he is a clone of Blaze. They are identical - and if you remember, Blaze ballooned 3 times his size within months. Going from preemie to 100% in his weight division in a matter of weeks. Hopefully Pierson gains weight as well as Blaze did.

Pierson - Week One!

Direct Quotes!

Okay - so I have a couple quotes that I had to share - one from each of my boys.

First - Canon is asked the other day by one of my girlfriends, jokingly, which does he like better "the puppy or the baby"? He answers quite honestly "I don't know". Puppies are more playful I am guessing.




Second - My best friend came to pick up the boys so I could have a little nap time with Pierson. While they were in the car together - she asked my boys if they were grateful for what I had given them (baby brother) and all that I have done and suggested that maybe I be more grateful and thankful. Canon replies that, yes, it is cool what mom did for me and that he is very grateful for his little brother. Blaze pauses a minute and then says "Do you know what is cool?" My friend is expecting something profound from this little four year old and hopes to hear how grateful he is as well. But no - he proceeds to say: "What's cool is taking off your training wheels and riding your bike down a hill". She laughs and says "oh- you are going to be one of those kind of guys"


It was too funny. Apparently Blaze is not that interested in his brother yet and doesn't think that having a baby is better than riding a bike without training wheels.

HE"S HERE!!!!!!

Yeah! We had our Baby Boy!

Introducing Pierson Lawrence Don DeGracie!



Originally due June 10th, surprised us at 3:00 am on Friday, May 16th when he decided today was the day. Darren can attest that I was in such denial that this was happening. I literally pulled out the pregnancy book to look up "signs of labor" just to make sure. It took me less than 15 minutes to realize the pain was bad enough to be labor so we decided to go to the hospital. I had called my sister to come sleep with the boys and called my mom to let her know he was coming. She was shocked. On Wednesday, I was told that I had a good 2 weeks before we would see any action and I had prepared to "get ready" by then. I didn't have a bag packed, didn't have anything for the baby to come home in, etc... We just got in the car and sped 90 MPH to the hospital, NOT conveniently located 20 minutes away. By the time we got there - I was dialated to a 5 and was told I had about 5 hours to go. By 10:00 am, they said it would be soon and that they would like to try a "practice" push. It took one push for the nurse to realize he was already on his way out. Within minutes of rushing off to find the doctor and 3 pushes later - HE ARRIVED.

He was born at 10:30 am (exactly) on Friday, May 16th. Weighed 5lbs, 7 ounces and measured 17 inches long. He was quite small and 4 weeks early so he had a couple of troubles at the beginning but he has overcome them. He had fluid in his lungs and needed an xray but it turned out to be okay. He had low blood sugar, low temperature, low oxygen and several other small things normal to small, early babies. We didn't get to see him much on his first day due to precautions and testing but we were glad he was being taken care of. They put an IV in his poor little head to give him antibiotics and to feed him if needed but thankfully he didn't end up in the Newborn ICU which was the plan. Today he weighs 5 lbs, 3 ounces and prefers sleeping to eating. His pediatrician has labeled him "Happy To Starve", rather than "Lives To Eat" (like his dad). We have to wake him every 2 hours to eat, which kills me because he looks so peaceful. He is such a sweet little baby and rarely cries, just squacks.

Here are a couple of pictures of my sweet baby (professional photographer needed). There will be better ones to come as I realized, due to his low temperature, that he was covered up from head to toe so he is hard to see in some of these. We will strip him of his bedding so you can get a good look of this little guy.

Bragging One More Time!

Just had to let those who care know that Blaze received the "Golden Ball" today after his tee-ball game. This most prized golden ball goes to the best player of the day. A couple of the kids noticed that Blaze was doing really well today and exclaimed throughout the game that they thought Blaze would get the ball. Blaze wasn't expecting it and was so excited when the team voted for him to receive the "golden ball". He was so excited to let everyone know that he quickly called Grandma, Ranie and Jo to let them know of his accomplishment. And of course - I had to document it with pictures.