Introducing: Brett Wells Riches

THE BOYS!



Justin and Jake were so cute with Brett! They always wanted to "hold baby!"

He's so little!

Poor baby needs some chapstick!

Brett being held by Daddy.

Right after his bath in the hospital.

He's Here! He's Here! He's Here!

We are so thrilled to welcome this new little addition to the team!

Brett Wells Riches was born on July 3, 2008 at 1:28pm weighing in at 7lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. We love this little boy! He had a little trouble breathing consistently at first, but his first bath in the hospital solved that problem quickly! He hated it! The boys love their new little brother so much! It's really cute. I have to protect him from Justin and Jake at times, but we are all really enjoying this little man. He is such a blessing to our family.

It was fun having him on July 3rd. I was in the hospital until the 5th, which meant that we watched the 4th of July fireworks from my hospital room window! It was actually a memorable experience. Just our little family enjoying ourselves together. We've always been close to family when we've had our babies, which was wonderful and such a blessing, but we've never had time together like this after a baby is born. It was new for us, and we missed everyone, but at the same time, it was really special for us. We really enjoyed the quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) moments of "just us." It was something that we won't soon forget.

Seriously about to POP!

This is me three days before I had our new little Brett! I had to get this picture because:
1-This is by far the biggest I've ever been when I am pregnant
2- This was the first day in weeks that I had done both my hair AND makeup on the same day! I figured, if we are going to get a picture of me pregnant, today's the day! Looking at it now (post baby) it makes the skin on my stomach hurt. I was in so much pain and agony at the end of this pregnancy...I know blah blah blah, but seriously...owe!

Kamron loves taking pictures like this. He loves to "document" things. We are the worlds WORST people at organizing our pictures. Hence my gratitude to those who introduced me to blogging. :) But Kamron is always snapping pictures of things he thinks we need to remember.

A little side note on Kamron. I know there might be some women out there who feel that they would like their man to experience pregnancy in order for them to truly understand. I don't feel this way about Kamron. He's the type of husband who is fully sympathetic, will certainly help me out when I need, and interested in any and all gory detail. He's the type of person who would volunteer himself to wear a pregnancy suite for nine months just out of curiosity. He's bummed out when he isn't allowed to watch me get an epidural, super interested in every step of the way, and asks any and all questions that come to mind DURING the procedure. He's really funny about pregnancy...but he doesn't try to be. I think that's the funniest part! He's just super interested. I'm sure after reading this, he will insist that I remove this paragraph, so those of you who are reading this, you should feel lucky....this won't be up for long I'm sure!

Yummy Jakey

It is SO HOT here in Colorado! It's in the 90's almost every day! Way too hot for me. (I know you folks in AZ or anywhere humid are rolling your eyes, but I'm from San Diego....that's hot to me!) So I decided that we needed some cool treats to help us all beat the heat. The kids wanted fudge-cicles (is that how you spell it?) and awesomely enough, they were buy one get one free! YES! When we got home we tore into them and, well, this was the result. Completely blog worthy I thought. Our sweet little Jake. I could just eat him up! HA!

Kamron's Graduation

Wow! We made it! After two years of school, Kamron graduated with an MBA in Finance from SDSU. It certainly was a day to remember that's for sure. Kamron worked so hard. He went to school at night while working full time during the day. At times, it felt like an unbelievable sacrifice for him to be gone so much, and I'll admit that I had a few pitty parties myself. We made it though, and like most things, we are stronger now as a family because of it. We know for sure the Lord helped us through it all. We are certainly in His debt for the strength and endurance we were blessed with every day.

Our time with "Daddy Home" is so priceless! Both Kamron and I feel that the lessons learned go well beyond what he learned at school. One of the biggest things I learned is that you can do almost anything with two kids! They only hold you back as much as you let them. (I don't know about three though :) I also learned what an amazingly hard working husband I have. Such an example to me of what hard work can do.

I think that through all of this the kids learned that everything is more fun with Daddy! I agree! It's amazing how the kids are so aware of what's going on though. There would be weeks where Kamron wouldn't see the kids from Sunday night to Thursday night. This being because he would leave before they woke up and come home well after they were in bed. (Don't even think I was mean for not letting them stay up and wait for him. I needed my sanity somehow, and that was through getting them in bed by the stroke of 8pm and enjoying some peace for a few hours.) After a while, I think they caught on....that is, to their never seeing Kamron. After a while, if there were ever two consecutive days where they wouldn't see Kamron, you could bet that on the third day, BOTH kids would be up and all over Kamron by 6:00am. Then of course sobbing when he left. It was really funny though how they did that....and both at the same time! Amazing!

We are all so proud of Kamron! Of course, we'll see what the future holds. Somehow it doesn't feel like we are completely done yet. We'll see what Kamron has up is sleeve next. This was sure a huge step though, and the kids and I feel so blessed to have him be the Dad around here. We love you Kamron!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's (Both sets!!)

Before we moved, we spend one month with my family and one month with Kamron's family. It was nice to have that time with them before we moved. I think it was especially meaningful to the kids. Justin and Jake really got to know them well, and had so much fun every day! We sure miss them.

Kid Obsession

WE LOVE OUR BOYS!!! WE THINK THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!! People ask me all the time if I'm disappointed that I am having another boy instead of a girl. I am always so happy to say NO! Kamron and I are absolutely in love with our boys and I know that this new little baby will just be the perfect addition to our family. Their little personalities are so sweet, and Kamron and I are always either amazed or cracking up at what comes out of their mouths. We both feel like at this point, we don't know what we would even do with a girl...so the boys work for us. These are some pictures from Disneyland that I took in May. The day before we found out we were moving, we bought year passes to Disneyland. I tried so hard to make them worth it since we were only living in San Diego for three months after that. I went every few weeks, and really enjoyed my time with Justin and Jake. Of course they loved every minute of it. As I was growing and growing with this pregnancy, our trips became a lot slower. Kamron came when he could get off work, but most of the time it was just mom and the boys (and thankfully Uncle Carl came with us so Justin could go on the "fast rides") It was so much fun for us!

Shanna's Suprise Party

Kamron seriously ROCKS! He planned and executed a surprise birthday party for me while in the middle of a very stressful last semester of school, working really far away, and moving. He earned SERIOUS brownie points that night. It was SO fun to see everyone. I was especially touched by my sister and her husband driving down from Irvine, and our friends who drove from Chula Vista to be there. Kamron's parents were nice enough to let Kamron have it at their house. It was so much fun! Well done Kamron, you totally got me!