1 Year Later

WOW, Have we really been that busy? I guess so. Well to catch everyone up on our past year, the question is where do I start? First of all, Brennon's arm healed nicely and no surgery was ever needed, Thank God. He continued to be a VERY active 2 year old as the year went on, and ended up breaking his other arm jumping off his bed only 9 months later. Let me just say, that I have never cursed, yelled and cried so much all in the same 10 minutes then that night. At least this time, it was just a little buckle break in his forearm, and nothing as serious as the other one.

As Winter approached, and Holidays came and went, my oldest son, Braxton turned 4. I can't believe that in that year he completed his first year of preschool, grew 4 inches, and went from toddler to true little boy. His Birthday was awesome, and since he has this unbelievable passion for trains, we had a Polar Express party, just like the Movie, and our gift to him, was surprising him with a real live train, decorated like the Polar Express, showing up at his party for him and all our guests to ride as much as they wanted until it was dark, and too cold to be out in the January weather. I got all the kids little lanterns, and had Hot Chocolate, and a Candy Buffet, which I am really into these days. Everything was Black and White, and turned out really cute.

As Spring approached, our Baby Brogen turned 1. He ended up having Blonde hair and blue eyes, Could that be a coincident of having my grandmothers middle name, since Blonde hair is not really a common thing in our family, except for her. He looks just like Brett, and is a complete spitfire. I love his energy, personality, and his fire. He loves Elmo, Baseball, and his Brothers. For his 1 year old birthday we had a Crayon party, where everything was Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. I went a little crazy with things, but it was the 1st, a big moment, and our last baby, so even a bigger moment. He was walking by 10 1/2 months, and an inch taller then his brothers at that age, although he is about 5 pounds skinnier as well.

As we went into summer, school ended for Braxton and Brennon could not wait to go in the fall. Both Braxton and Brennon played T-ball on the same team, and what a crack up that was, Brennon turned out to be left handed, and loved baseball. In July Brennon turned 3 and I am still having a hard time processing that he is only 3, since he acts much older at times. We had a Shark party for him, and what a great time it was for all. Water fights, and food galore, shark movies, blue candy table, and shark pinata were just a few things that occurred. So much fun, and he had a blast.

I cant believe that I have 3 boys, that are 4, 3, and 1. My life is nothing but crazy, and busy, but would not trade it for the world. We had a great summer, and did as much as we possibly could. As for Brett and I we are approaching our 7th anniversary, and I still cant figure out where those years have gone, and the fact that we are still as close as ever, even after 3 kids and 4-5 years of chaos.

On another note, in July, I woke up one morning with so much pain on my left side that I could barely breathe. It turned out that I had a Kidney Stone that was trying to pass and, needless to say did not, so after waiting all weekend, and in severe pain, they finally went in and removed it. It turned out to be 6 mm, which is the size of a small peanut. Turns out, I have a condition where I absorb more oxalate from food then the every day norm. So this is producing stones in my kidneys because it cant all get out, so I am now on a very strict diet, and not able to have things like chocolate, my starbucks chai tea, green vegetables, and peanut butter. Weird right? Well, they also discovered at this time, that I have a small tumor on my pancreas. Crazy right? Well, I don't know anything about this right now, except for the fact that is has the appearance of being benign. I am going in to see a specialist at the end of the month, to find out more, but in the meantime, I am trying to follow my diet restrictions, and taking care of my boys. All 4 of them.

I will update everyone as I know more, but if anyone has some extra prayers that you are willing to throw my way, I will gladly accept them. Love you all.....................

My Baby Brennon

Well, some of you may have heard that we had a little accident. Brennon broke his right arm. He broke the humorous bone pretty bad, almost all the way through. That's the big upper bone in your arm, just above the elbow. He has 1 very serious break, and another fracture above that. So we have spent the last week in children's hospital and its not over yet. He received a cast on Wednesday and is still in serious condition, they think that a cast will do the job and he can avoid surgery, but we go in next Wednesday to find out for sure, when they will take more x-rays to see for sure that his bone has not migrated out towards the back of his arm. If everything is ok, he will be in a cast for about 4-5 weeks after that, if not, well, we don't even want to think about that right now. So between now and Wednesday he needs to remain calm, and be very cautious as to not fall, hit, bump, or anything to that arm in the hope that it will remain aligned with the growth plate and start to fuse together.

Besides the pain that I can only imagine he was in, he is still the happiest 2 year old that I know, and has that big smile back on his face. Which is very nice for Daddy and I to see. So a few more days of trying to keep a 2 year old boy still, and then hopefully on the full road to recovery.

First day of School

Today my first born baby boy went to his first day of school. He is officially a Dragon. After much deliberation over where our kids could get the best education possible for the money, we have decided to put them in private Catholic School. And if God is willing they will be able to continue this until the 12th grade. We feel that it is very important to have a strong background of the fundamentals and to learn about their catholic faith as well. So Braxton is now a Dragon at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic school in Wheat Ridge. We are so excited to have been able to give him this opportunity. He started Preschool this year, next year will be a pre-kindergarten class and then on to kindergarten through 8th grade all at the same school. All the kids were so cute in their uniforms this morning, and his teacher is awesome. Preschoolers don't have to wear uniforms, so he gets to be a little more free for a few years, but there is a strict dress code, colared shirts, no crocs, flip, flops, plain pants, no crazy shirts with sayings on them. We think this is really good, expecially for boys, they are going to not only get a great education, but manners on how to become gentlemen as well. He was so excited to go today, and just wanted to go to the library as soon as he got there, as we went in to his class, over the P.A. system, they said the school prayer, and as all the 3 year olds looked at the cross on the wall and put their hands together, it was so cute. And at the end they all say, Saints Peter and Paul Pray for us. They then say the pledge of Alligance. Then the teacher said "ok say bye bye to all the mommies and daddies" And Braxton turned to me and goes Bye Mom, and sat right down to start his lessons. I think Mommy is more sad then he was. He gets P.E. class, Art Class, Library time, Music class, and computer time. We are very thrilled with our choice of schools, and hopes he thrives.

Welcome Baby Brogen

It has been awhile indeed, and a lot has happened to the Gunter brood. We have a new baby Bruiser Brother to add to the Gang. That's right Brogen Paul Gunter arrived on May 14th 2010, weighing in at 8 lbs, 9 oz. Right in the middle of big Brothers Braxton and Brennon. Even though life seems to be a whirlwind at moments, we could not be happier and feel more blessed to have completed our family with 3 boys. Brogen is an amazing baby, already smiling, and eager, (well he really doesn't have a choice) to just jump right in and go with the flow in our family. He is now sleeping through the night, YEAH for Mommy, and loves watching his brothers run around and play......

On another funny note, when I was delivering him, via C-Section, the Doctors pulled him out and said "Congratulations, he's a cutie with blonde hair" Brett and I both looked at each other and go "What?" Blonde.......don't worry babe he really is yours....turns out Blonde babies run on my Moms side, where all of her siblings and herself, including my Grandmother were all blonde when they were little. Whew!!!!! Good thing it is somewhere in the family. And it looks like he is going to keep those pretty blue eyes, like Big Brother Braxton, and Daddy. Poor Brennon, oh well, you look like Mommy anyways.....

Braxton and Brennon love their Baby Brother and have already nicknamed him as "Baby Bro".....They love to hold him, and have to kiss him all the time, and its funny, but Brogen already knows them, and starts kicking and just lights up, when they talk to him.....It is definitely difficult right now with all of them being very close in age, but it will all be worth it when they are older, and the best of friends. Daddy is so excited at the fact that they could all play sports in high school together, being that we will have a Senior, Junior and Freshman at one point in time.

Since I haven't updated in such a long time, I have a lot to post, but about Braxton and Brennon, Braxton is now 3 1/2 and happy to say, fully potty trained...he starts his 2nd year of preschool this fall, and is very excited for that. He played his first season of T-ball this summer, and even though, he wanted to sit down and pick the grass more then play sometimes, I think he had a good time. Brennon is now 2, pretty much that is all I need to say.......He is the middle child, and smarter and more clever then I could ever imagine. He shares a room with his brother, and thinks that he is Braxton's twin. He is either always pretending he is a Dinosaur, talking all night long, or giving a concert for the whole world to hear of singing his ABC's (usually at 11pm) He keeps us on our toes at all times, but is the sweetest little boy when he wants to be.

Mommy is now back at work and sad to leave my baby bears, but they are in good hands with Nana, and Grammies, and now that I have more time, more posts will follow.....

Venting

Ok, I must vent to something or someone, and as I understand it, Bogs are for just that. So here it goes. Today I was in the elevator at work, and a lady came in after me, and looked at me, asked if I was due soon, and got freaked out and left the elevator. Did she think that I was going to pop out a kid in the few minutes that I was in the elevator to go up 7 flights of stairs? Then as my day was progressing, and I decided to have lunch, I really wanted a Cherry 7-up, don't ask, a weird pregnancy thing these days, so I took a little walk down to the store in the hospital to see if by some odd chance they had my so-called beverage of choice these days, and to my surprise they did, so as I grabbed the coldest one I could find and headed for the register, the cashier ask how long do I have and when I told her 7 weeks, she looked at me all astonished by my size, and said really? No lady I am lying......She then proceeded to tell me, Well it must be twins? No lady, just a big boy. Well, you look like your ready any day now? Well, I am not, and I know for sure he is not. And as I continued to walk out of the store, she continued to ask me stupid questions........Unbelievable.

Then as I walked my steady pace back to the elevator for yet another trip to the 9th floor, one of the gross VA workers got in and asked the same questions, and again, I tried to be polite, and said, no its not twins, its just one, its a boy, and its not my first. So, she then slowly reached to touch my stomach, and since I was so startled by this stranger wanting to touch my belly, I jumped back, and said that its probably in your best interest after the day I have had to not touch my belly. I think she was so startled by my comment, she quickly regained consciousness of what she was doing, and said oh I am sorry. I quickly replied, no problem, and got off the elevator at the next floor.

My response to all of this is WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? Why is it that people suddenly become super bold around a pregnant women, and think that they are free wrain to talk, touch, and socialize with, when really, we don't care to discuss anything with you, when we don't even know who you are. After 3 pregnancies, it is still amazing to me the guts that complete strangers have.

So I think that I need to permanently wear a T-shirt that says: This is not my first baby, its a boy, its not twins, I am just that big, and HANDS OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And His Name is...

Its Official, we have actually decided on a name in just record time too. We are naming our little butterball, Brogen Paul. Of course it is another "Br" and we wanted something that ended in an "N" to follow suit as well. Paul is after my grandmother Pauline, who was very dear to both Brett and I and will always be in our hearts. She was very fond of Braxton, and would of loved to meet Brennon and Brogen, but unfortunately God had other plans for her. Hopefully she is up there smiling at our decision.

On a happier note, well maybe, we have attempted to put Braxton and Brennon in the room together where they will be roomies for the next few years until we finish our basement, and one of them is old enough to want to have their room down there. Lets just say it was not easy. The room is done, with both of their stuff in it, but Braxton is not a sleeper, and even though he has been done with naps for sometime now, he still does not go to sleep until 10pm. I wish I had his energy. But Brennon is a sleeper, so Brennon lays down, and Braxton gets out and talks to him, and roams his room, then after about an hour of them talking and playing with each other, Brennon is so exhausted that he just starts crying and I have to put him in his old room again, and he is out. It is funny to hear them through the monitor, saying "Hi Brother", "Hi B", "what ya doing" But at the same time, we are a little worried that poor baby Brogen wont have a room for awhile until these two little monsters can figure it out.......I guess Brogen will just have to stay with Mommy and Daddy for awhile. Mommy doesn't mind, since he is my last baby.......

29-30 Weeks

Good news. We had a Doctors appointment today and an ultrasound and our little butterball is doing great. He is already 3 1/2 pounds and on track to be around 9 pounds........Nothing surprising there, right. I am still measuring about 4 weeks ahead of schedule, but that just means a bigger baby. I wonder what it would be like to have a girl? Don't Worry everyone, a 4th is out of the question, no more C-Sections for me. Otherwise, he seems to be a very mellow baby, already. Long and lean, with a larger head like big brother Braxton, wonder if he will look like Braxton as well. He had a good heartbeat, and overall looks perfect. We could not be happier. We are very excited for him to just be here. I hate this part of the pregnancy, because it turns into a waiting game.

On a side note, these next couple of weekends are packed with my "to-do list" items. We are transforming Braxton's room, into a big boy's room for him and Brennon to share. Per Braxton's request, it is going to be a Baseball room. Oh Daddy is so proud. This is sure to make him excited to play T-ball this summer. So after tons of hours surfing the Internet for bedding, wall decor, and much more to match his already existing paint job, in a baseball theme. I think that we finally have everything on its way to our house. Just a few more little touches that Mommy wants to do. I will post pics when all is said and done. Of course there will be a small touch of the New York Yankees in that room, our families favorite team...