So excited about my Etsy purchase!

I'm sure you are all thinking.....What is this? Well......let me tell ya! :) This is called an iSpy bag and I ordered 2 this morning from Etsy. It is a bag for all ages that is filled with small beads and little trinkets hidden inside. On the outside of the bag is a card listing the items inside. My girls are getting one of these for Christmas and I am going to give the other as a gift to one of our neices. This is such a great toy for kids going on trips or ones that get bored easily in the car! I will let you know what I think when it arrives. In case anyone is interested in ordering one the seller is cricketandsix. :)

8 years ago today........

I welcomed my beautiful daughter Kara Ashton into the world! She was born on a beautiful Friday at 12:34pm weighing 7lbs. 13oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. My labor was fast and very easy. My mom and sister were there and they kept shouting how beautiful she was while she was being cleaned up. I was pretty out of it after her delivery but the 1st thing I remember saying to the doctor was "Is it still a girl?" He laughed and of course replied "yes."

She has been such a blessing and I love watching her grow. She changed my life in so many ways and I can't imagine a day without her! She has such a kind heart, a free spirit and a playful attitude.

Today Karsyn and I took her Chick-fil-A for lunch at school and also brought cupcakes for her class. Her party is this weekend and it is a joint party with her best friend Maisie. (They share the same birthday!)

Here are some pictures from today:

Kara and Karsyn after Lunch

Kara and her best friend, Maisie (they share a b-day and both have red hair! Crazy coincidence!)

Kara and Mommy enjoying lunch

Happy Birthday Kara! Mommy loves you and I am very proud of you!!!

"It goes by way too quickly."

I'm sure that everyone has heard this cliche statement. It isn't until you are a parent yourself that you realize just how quickly it does go by. On a day to day basis you watch your little one changing and learning new things. It was just last week as I was reading my 'Your Baby Week by Week book' that I told Jeromy there was no way that Karsyn would start splashing in the tub a week from then.....but....just this weekend when we were at the pool she started splashing her hands and giggling in delight! WOW! What a difference that week made!

I also think back to last year when Kara began 1st grade and her reading was still spotty and she had to have me help her sound things out. I used to be able to spell words out to Jeromy like N-A-P to keep it from the kids. Then one day in the spring she looked at me and said "No way! I am not taking a nap when we get home!" Now she reads everything! If I have something private that I don't want her seeing I have to hide it because she can definitly read it now! I am proud of that milstone and I love listening to her read. :)

Karsyn is now 3 1/2 months old and she is changing every day! She has been sleeping in her own room at night (for the last 2 weeks!) and she even falls asleep with the help of a pacifier! If you asked me a month ago if she was taking a paci I would have said no because she just started liking it! Not that I want her to be addicted to a paci but as a breastfeeding mommy it is nice for her to have a way to soothe herself besides nursing!! She really is a great baby and so easy to breastfeed! She is now eating every 3-6 hours (the longest stretch at night) but she only takes about 10 minutes to finish a feeding! It's great...really and I love spending that time with her! My ultimate goal is 1 year but at 6 months I will evaluate where we are and I will see how things go from there! My next adventure is going to be making baby food!

Here is Karsyn's picture from 3 months! Look at her chubby cheeks!

And I had to add this picture because people always wonder who she looks like....and well....not to brag.....but this looks exactly like ME! My mom said that she looks so much like me that for her it is a blast from the past!

Oh....and on a side note! Remeber the last post I made about Karsyn being used for advertising for Picture People?? Well.....if you go into the Stonebriar location up above the couter there is a black and white picture of a chubby sleeping baby. Can you guess who that is??? Yep....that's right! It's my little Karsyn!

Days flying by!

I know that I said that I was going to try to post weekly but I have yet again beeen distracted by the day to day of motherhood. Karsyn is getting so big! It's hard to believe that she is already over 2 months old!!



I began coaching Kara's cheer squad this week and I am seriously overly excited about it. (It's pretty embarrassing!) I just love being able to share something that I loved so much with my daughter. Plus I am hoping that it will be a good workout to help me lose these extra 10 lbs. of baby weight I am still carrying around! Maddie and Maycee are on our squad. Kara is really happy to have her friends cheering with us. I know that April will have some pretty embarassing pictures of me before all of this is said and done. In fact, I think that she got a picture of me doing a handstand at our first practice! LOL! Our squad is the Lobo Gold and we cheer for a 7/8 year old boys football team. I can't wait for our first game. So far, in 2 practices I have taught the girls 7 cheers. I wasn't sure if they would remember them all but this morning I heard Kara in her bedroom practicing so I am pretty confident that the other girls probably remember them too! Holly is helping me coach and she is a God send! She is such a talented cheerleader and really has great skills for teaching children. (She will make a great parent and dentist some day!) Unfortunately, Holly can only attend 1-2 practices a week because of her work schedule so I will have to wing it when she isn't there and hope for the best. :)



We went to Karsyn's 2 month old check-up last week and she is officially 10lbs. 4 oz. and 21 3/4 inches long! I can't believe how fast she is growing! That is almost 4 lbs. and 3 inches up from her size at birth. She really is still such a little peanut though. She is 45th percentile for weight, 30th for height and 10th for her head! I laugh at her head size because she is 2 months old and 0-3 month hats are still GIGANTIC for her little head! I was buying her some fall clothes today and I wanted the matching hat but seriously laughed out load at how ridiculously huge the 3-6 month hat was on her! I ended up buying the 0-3 month hat because it was still pretty big on her. So as long as her head doesn't go through some major growth spurt she will be sporting a really cute hat this fall!



One of the worst things about well baby visits is the vaccinations. I always hated when Kara had to get shots and even though we are on an alternate vaccine schedule for Karsyn I knew that she would be getting some at her 2 month appointment and I was having really bad anxienty about this! The day of her appointment I was flustered and nervous all day! At the appointment I was sweaty and shaking. I am so glad that Jeromy was there to hold her arms down. I cried when she got her shots because she had the saddest little face and cried so hard. I held her and nursed her in the room for about 20 minutes before we left the office. I had to give her Tylenol every 4 hours for the next 24 hours because the shots were giving her a fever. :( I felt really bad for her and she acted like her legs were hurting whenever I would touch them. Jeromy and I are glad that we don't go back for another 2 months but we are both still dreading more shots!



Ironically before her appointment; in all of my anxienty I had Karsyn's 2 month pictures made at the Picture People. They turned out so cute and I ended up spending a lot more than I wanted on them. She was so alert in the beginning and we got some great shots of her smiling and holding her head up. Then she fell asleep and got some amazing pictures of her sleeping. Of course she is my baby so all of this sounds obviously cliche that I think that they were adorable but then yesterday someone from Picture People called me and asked if they could e-mail me a waiver because they wanted to use Karsyn's pictures on their website and for general advertising! So maybe you guys will see her in some future advertisements for them! I should have the e-mailed images from the session soon so I will upload them as soon as I get them.

Well, that pretty much puts us up to speed. I am sure that the next few weeks will be spent hanging out with the kiddos, going to cheer practice and getting ready for school to start. I love summer but I have to admit that I am ready for school to start back. It is such a challenge to entertain 2 girls and take care of a baby. I am ready for scheduled nap times and the ability to actually clean my house!

A Long Overdue Update

As pointed out to me this weekend by a good friend I have been a bad blogger. I know this. There are so many days that I think about getting on but then something comes up and I forget all about it until I am half asleep and by that point I am way too tired to get up and begin. (Believe me....with a 7 week old sleep is a necessity!) So this brings me with so much to catch up on that I am not sure where to begin.......

Karsyn is such a great baby! I really enjoy spending my days with her and watching her grown and learn new things daily. Coming home from the hospital was quite an experience. The day that we were discharged there were more than 30 other couples going home with their newborns that day! It was a very busy weekend on the L&D floor at Plano Presby. By the time that we got home it was around 3pm and we were happily greeted by my mom, brother, Christa, Kara and Karlee. The girls had been making WELCOME HOME KARSYN signs all day and my mom had been busy cleaning and even mowed our yard! (I know....I have the greatest mom EVER!) Our stork sign was proudly displayed in the front yard for the whole neighborhood to see that we had welcomed our new baby girl into our lives. Here is a picture of our new family by our stork.

From there the weeks flew by! Jeromy was home with us for the first week and then my mom took a week off of work to stay with me and help me with Karsyn and household things. It is such a blessing to have such a wonderful mom and a pretty great hubby too. :) On Memorial Day we went to Jeromy's dad's house to celebrate with the whole family. They were thrilled to have the newest addition there and we were surprised by the news that there would soon be another new addition to the growing Boulet grandkids! Jeromy's sister, Brandi and her husband, Todd will be welcoming a 4th baby sometime in late December! Karsyn will love having a cousin so close in age!

With the kids being out of school for the summer we have been enjoying going to the pool and hanging out with friends. Karsyn went swimming for the first time on June 18th. She LOVED the water! I only put her in for a few minutes each time we are down there but she seems to enjoy every second and usually falls asleep for quite some time after getting out.

2 weeks ago we discovered that Karsyn has a minor case of acid reflux. The was spitting up every time after she ate. At the dr's office she weighed in at 8lbs. 13oz. I am happy that she is gaining the appropriate amount of weight but I was sad that the dr. said that her crying after eating was due to heart burn. SO SAD! A mother never wants her child to be in pain.

Yesterday we celebrated the 4th of July and Karsyn loved being outside. She sleeps well with lots of noise so she did just perfectly. Here are some pictures of our little family on the 4th!

Well....I know this update isn't very detailed but I just wanted to do a quick catch up and I promise that I will try to update at least once a week from now on!

My Birth Story

Finally...I have been meaning to post this for a week now but have been so busy with Karsyn that I just haven't had an opportunity....but here it is! Finally!

I was scheduled for an induction on Friday May 22nd but Karsyn had other plans. I woke up Thursday morning, May 14th exhausted as normal but with a busy day planned. Ashley B. and I met up at the Stonebriar Mall and shopped for a couple hours. Afterwards I had to go to the grocery store, do some housework and pick up the kids from school. After finishing everything I started feeling really tired and really strange. I layed down in my room for about 30 minutes before having to get ready and leave for Karlee's school play.

At Karlee's school play I was feeling really weird and having some braxton hicks. I was also feeling very crampy but had been experiencing these for a few days so I didn't think anything of it. Kara and I left there and headed to Jeromy's basketball game. At the game the cramping was getting stronger and the pains were going down my legs. They were really uncomfortable. I called my mom when we left and asked if I could bring Kara over to spend the night because I wasn't feeling well. Jeromy drove and we took her to my mom's. (It is about 15 minutes from our house.) On the way to my mom's the contractions were getting stronger and the cramping was steady inbetween the contractions. I began to feel them going down my back and I knew then that it was something more than just what I had been experiencing the days prior. We rushed home so Jeromy could take a shower and I called the doctor. Dr. Garner wasn't the dr. on call but the dr. on call told us to go to Labor and Delivery but that because I was only 37 weeks that I shouldn't expect to be staying. I threw some last minute toiletries into our bags, we loaded our car and headed to the hospital. As we pulled out of the driveway Jeromy turned to me and said "I have a feeling that this is a practice run."

We arrived at the hospital around 10pm. They checked my cervix and I was still a 3. (The same that I was on Monday.) They hooked me up to the monitors and we waited. I was having contractions 2-3 minutes apart. After an hour and my pain level was increasing they checked me again and I was still a 3 but my cervix was softer. They decided to keep me to monitor me for a few more hours. At this point they decided to give me a shot of stadol to help me relax and get some sleep. Jeromy left to grab something to eat and pick up some DVD's for our video camera. When he got back I was already out of it and falling asleep. I slept off and on until 4am when they came in and checked me again. This time I was dilated to a 4, 90% effaced and my bag of water was bulging. The nurse then looked at me and said "Okay. Well, we will go ahead and start your IV and you can get your epidural as soon as you are ready." Jeromy and I looked at each other and were shocked! I said "OMG! We are having our baby today!"

It took them an hour to get my IV in and going. By 6:30 the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. Dr. Garner called up to labor and delivery around 7am and told them to go ahead and start pitocin to speed things up. He came in around 8:15 and broke my water. (The amount of fluid that came out was unreal!!!) I labored very comfortably and around 10 the nurse came in and checked me and I was about 9 1/2 centimeters dilated. Dr. Garner showed up around 10:15 and started prepping the room for delivery. Once he was suited up it was show time. I started pushing at 10:30 and 4 contractions later at 10:40am Karsyn was born. When her head came out I looked down and was absolutely amazed! The umbillical cord was wrapped around her neck once but she was okay. When she came out I couldn't beleive that I was looking at my baby!! She just looked so tiny!

When Karsyn let out that first cry Jeromy turned around to kiss me.. he was crying and I was crying....I think everyone was crying. It was a perfect moment and I am so happy that she is finally here. All the heartache and worry were worth it when I stare at my baby girl. She is just an absolute gift from God and we feel so blessed.

Just some quick pictures of Miss Karsyn!

I am busy with Miss Karsyn but I have a quick second to share some pictures of her. She was born last Friday May 15th at 10:40am. 6lbs. 6.5oz. 18 3/4 inches long. She is absolutely PERFECT! I will post our birth story and more pictures soon! I promise. ENJOY!