Birthday Party for Beck

One of Beck's all-time favorite show to watch is the Backyardigans which consists of 5 characters who imagine that their backyard becomes an adventure place. So, for Beck's 2-year birthday party, we had Backyardigans balloons, plates, cupcakes and a Pablo pinata (Beck loves Pablo!) at the park near our house.

The kid's (Ava B., Lola, Anderson, Natalie, Madeline and Ava D. - Marcus and Addison are way too small to play) played while Brent finished cooking the burgers and hot dogs...

After lunch, we dug into the yummy cupcakes made with love by mommy...Then the kids hit the pinata...Brent was the winner of beheading Pablo! (After the party, Brent hot glued the head back to the body and Pablo is now hanging in Beck's room.)

We didn't get a family shot so this is as good as it gets...Beck got some awesome gifts to include clothes, Trike, giraffe limbo, crayons, chalk, bubbles, tool belt, trucks and lots of clothes!

Thanks to all that came to the party!!!

Happy Birthday Beck Lee!!!

Two years ago on April 7th, my water broke at work but I didn't realize it because it was a slight leak all day. Late that afternoon, I talked to the nurse at my doctor's office and she told me to go to the hospital. I had a feeling that they would send me home because it was too soon for Beck to be born. Plus, I wasn't ready...I had nothing packed and had not washed his clothes in Dreft to keep him from getting a rash. We had not toured the hospital yet so I had no idea where to go. I called Brent and he met me at the hospital. Turns out that my water had indeed broke and I was having contractions and didn't even know it!

The nurse checked me several times that evening then finally decided to give me pitocin which helps speed up the process of having a baby. They also determined that I did have preeclampsia which is probably why Beck was born early. [Preeclampsia can be deadly for the mother and baby. It can keep the baby from getting enough blood and oxygen. It can also harm the mother's liver, kidneys and brain. The only cure for preeclampsia is having the baby.] Once my contractions reached to a 4 or 5, then I requested the epidural. The nurse checked me one more time and said, "Something doesn't seem right." She did a sono and realized the baby was breech. Seems like she would have noticed this when I first arrived at the hospital and then I would not have gone through many hours waiting for Beck's arrival, the pitocin and the painful contractions. So, they immediately got Brent dressed in scrubs and rushed me to the operating room.
At 3:35am on April 8th, Beck was born at 6 lbs. 12 oz which is a healthy sized baby being 3-4 weeks early. Needless to say, I was completely exhausted and could not keep my eyes open in the recovery room. The nurses were trying to tell me all kinds of stuff and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

Baby Beck has been our little angel ever since the day he was born. For his first birthday, we had a very simple and small party in Gilmer at Pops and Kiki's house. This year, his birthday landed on a Thursday so I baked cupcakes to take to Mrs. Linda's house then we had a big birthday party on Saturday.

Happy Birthday Beck!!!

Easter Sunday

Beck slept all the way home from Gilmer...guess he was worn out from such a rough night. I, on the other hand, got sick right after we left Gilmer so it must have been Kinsey giving me a hard time already. After lunch, we all laid down for a much needed nap!

After dinner, we finally busted out the Easter basket for Beck. He was not willing to pose with the basket so this is as good as it gets...
Looks like the Easter bunny brought him a couple of coloring books, crayons, bubbles and candy.
Beck wanted to decorate eggs again by coloring his candy!
Surprisingly, he didn't want to eat the candy...just play with it. I guess Brent and I will have to eat it. (Yum!)
Later that night, he was helping me in Kinsey's room then gave me all of these great poses! These pictures warms my heart!

Easter Weekend - Saturday

We left Gilmer at 7:45 Saturday morning and made the hour long drive to Henderson to visit with Nana and Stephen. Wendy was supposed to be there but she decided to stay with Jennifer and her kids. When we arrived Nana had pancakes and sausage ready for us to eat which was awesome because I was starving! Beck wanted to run around outside so we did that for a while then we took a walk down the street to a new children's clothing store. Then, we ate a delicious lunch...barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs and rolls. Delicious! Beck went down for his afternoon nap then we ate really cute bunny desserts that Nana picked up at the Butcher Shop in Longview. The blue one is for Beck and the pink one is for Kinsey.
Beck also got a cookie shaped like a bunny. He was hesitant to eat it at first because it was cold but quickly devoured it once it got a little warmer.
It was fun watching Beck play with the concrete alligator...he kept stepping on it.
He had the best time going up and down these stairs...he's like the Energizer Bunny...he keeps going, and going, and going, and going.
Nana got some Beck Lovin...
Beck wanted to play with this cat but the cat had nothing to do with Beck! In fact, he hissed and swatted at both of us several times. I wanted to leave the cat alone but Beck kept going back for more.
We got back to Gilmer around 6pm to find out Kiki was in bed sick. Brent, Beck and I went to this place next to the skating rink to get shrimp and boy was it yummy!

Easter Weekend - Friday Night (continued)

After having a blast watching Beck chase bubbles, Jeff picked up Nannie and we ate dinner with Pops, Kiki, Brian, Katherine, Ava, Lola, Jill and Marcus. We missed Jody, Jennifer and Noah! We enjoyed eating ham, baked beans, potato salad, lemon pie (my favorite), coconut pie and a beautiful cake that Katherine brought from Society Bakery.
While everybody was eating, I caught Beck in Pops and Kiki's room standing on the step stool by the bed playing with Pops sleep apnea machine and he put headphones on his head!
Now it's time to decorate 3 dozen eggs!!!
It was so cute to watch Beck get creative with the eggs. He thought he was supposed to dip the crayon in the dye then paint the egg!
This is the variety of colors that we used to dye the eggs...
Ava is totally into decorating the eggs!
Even Lola is getting in on the action...
This is when Beck would dip his crayon in the dye...
Then color his egg...
Check out the bright colored eggs! So pretty!

Easter Weekend - Friday Night

What a perfect day for blowing bubbles! Kiki had many bottles and wands to choose from and we started with the little wands first then she busted out with the really big one! A great start to what I thought was going to be the perfect Easter weekend...more details to come later.

Easter at Mark & Linda's

On Wednesday, March 31, Mark and Linda made the day special by making cupcakes and hiding Easter eggs while the kids took a nap. Linda said Beck would pick up an egg and give it to Madeline which I think is so sweet! She taught him to put the egg in his own basket. Once, the kids his age had 12 eggs, then the older kids got to go out. Unfortunately, I did not get to see him in action but we took a few photos of him when he got home that day with his basket and eggs.

The sun is super bright...can't open my eyes!

Much better now that mom is blocking the sun...

My toys...

Baby blue eyes...