Baby William Maurice Cain

Our new baby is FINALLY HERE!!! We are SO happy that he has arrived safe and sound. He made his debut on Friday Aug. 24th at 4:20 a.m., weighing in at 7lb 7 oz and 19 inches long. I am SOOOOO happy that he is out of my body and is so healthy and strong! He is so so so so perfect. He has been an absolute dream baby and we are just so thrilled that he is here. He seems to get cuter by the minute, and I can't stop mugging on him. The boys love him to pieces....Sam said at the hospital that he "loves Will more than he loves himself" to which Joshua replied, "yeah, I love Will more than I love Sam too!" I quickly explained that we don't love him MORE than any other brothers but we love him just as much...they seemed to be okay with that. Gabe has completely floored me with his reaction to his baby brother. I truly expected him to be jealous and act out but he has been nothing but completely charming with him and SO gentle! He hugs and kisses him all day long and does it SO softly. When people come over he says "tum (come)see baby Will" and leads them to the baby. It has been WONDERFUL having Mark home, he has truly taken over every single household responsibility and to be honest is kind of making me look bad. It seems so effortless for him. He even had every shred of laundry done and put away in ONE afternoon. I am so grateful for him, we are so lucky to have such an incredible husband and daddy! I am feeling great, with the exception of a little incision pain, that I just keep hoping will go away soon and expect it to any day, I've been able to take plenty of naps and so far Will has only woken up once each night to eat and then is good till morning. I'm feeling pretty darn lucky and am hoping this sleeping for 4-5 hours at a stretch will continue as it is pure bliss! It has been wonderful having Mom here this week! We kept thinking that the baby looked a lot like Sam and mom kept insisting that he looked just like Joshua did, so when we got home from the hospital we pulled out Joshua's scrapbook and sure enough they look identical! I can't believe my MOM remembered this and I didn't. He does have a few of Sam's cute features though, like Sam's cute little cowlick at the top of his forehead (he calls it his Curious George hair) Will has hair that goes one way and hair that goes the other way right in that same spot. It also looks like he may have dimples, they are very faint but I keep catching them! Sam has a very faint dimple in his cheek also, so it appears he has some features of his biggest brothers. We haven't seen anything to resemble Gabe quite yet, maybe he'll have his brown eyes!! We are so thankful for our wonderful neighbor that came in the middle of the night to sit with the boys for awhile and for Mark's mom Mary for coming to relieve her at the crack of dawn! She spoiled the boys rotten for breakfast and made them anything and everything they wanted, sent Joshua with lunch money and Sam even convinced her to do his CHORES, The little stinker! Mark's dad was able to make a trip out to see him too, it was really nice as it's been awhile since we've seen him last. We've also received wonderful meals every single night from our ward and we couldn't be more grateful! We feel SO blessed and it is SOOO good to be home!!!!

I look pretty much how I felt in the picture above, but I LOVE it of the boys! I was SO beat, I couldn't even finish a normal sentence. This was Friday...I felt MUCH better the next day! :)Everytime we took a picture in the Hospital Gabe would run up and say "Me too! Cheese!!" He is such a goofball! :)

3rd Grade Here I Come!!

Could he be any cuter with his happy little "wink"? I truly can't believe that my oldest child is going into 3rd GRADE! I am not doing too well at this "kids getting bigger" thing. Why can't they just stay little for a tiny bit longer? It is really going to hit us when we're not looking forward to new little babies anymore and our youngest is getting big like this - but it's hitting me like a brick now as it is. I have been choked up a little all day just missing him. Sam had his meeting with his Kindergarten teacher today too and she seems really nice, she gave him a blue bracelet that says "Be Brave" and he is very excited to start next Monday. I think she should have given ME the bracelet, because I'm pretty sure I'll need it more than he will. I'm just going to have to plan on being a mess that day with both my big helpers gone and just Mr. Gabe to keep me busy (I'm sure he's up for the challenge). Hopefully there will still be enough to do to get prepared for little Will to get here next Wed. and I'll be able to keep my mind off of them being gone. They really do help out so much during the day that I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do. My chore list is going to double since they've been SO good at waking up every single day and checking off their chores one by one until they are done. They are almost always done within an hour and they're really starting to do a great job with their mastered tasks. I haven't had to sweep my kitchen floor in months....or even dust for that matter! I am so thankful for these little men of mine (most days anyway!) I think we could have traded them in yesterday though, they were SOOOO WILD!! Usually they do pretty well on Sundays because we try very hard to stress that it is the Sabbath day and they need to be reverent and do quiet things. This DID NOT work yesterday however. Mark blames it on the fact that we let them rent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on PPV on Saturday night and says that they've been wild ever since. I happened to really like the movie though...maybe it's the whole "4 brothers" theme that I liked, but I also thought it had a pretty good message overall. Anyway, they woke up this morning ready for their school day to start and very "hyper-free" so I guess it was a good "end of summer" activity after all. :) They got to eat cereal outside on Friday morning, nothing like eating breakfast in your swimsuit and playing and splashing your last day of summer away!!

Why the World needs Sisters!

I LOVE my sister! I've been wanting to write an "ode to my sister" since I started this blog but haven't done it yet. Well, yesterday was kind of a crummy day off and on... when I went to the Dr. on Monday I told him that I was feeling tons of pressure, like the baby could just fall right out of me at any moment...then when he checked me he couldn't believe how low he was and said he was easily at a "plus 2" station already and that he really COULD reach right in and pull him out. All I can say to that is UGH. By the middle of the day I'm pretty miserable and don't feel much like walking or moving, much less grocery shopping! We happen to REALLY need groceries right now as I've put off my shopping until the very last minute. SO, I planned to go yesterday as soon as Mark got off of work but the thought of going made me want to cry. Mark offered to go, but I have a "system" and I told the poor guy I won't let him go. :)

ANYWAY, yesterday - out of the blue, my sister walks in my house with milk, cereal, hamburger meat and snacks for the boys. EXACTLY enough for the day and EXACTLY enough for me not to have to go to the store afterall!!! I must have sounded worse on the phone then I thought! So, we feasted on Spagetti last night for dinner, my boys are eating a wonderful breakfast this morning and then we are off to the store while I'm refreshed and energized and before this baby makes me want to sit again for the rest of the day. I truly don't know what I'd do without her! I know I don't do as much for her as she does for me - I am SO grateful for a wonderful sister that I truly couldn't live without! We are so lucky that we have always been close. I have loved and adored her since the day I was born. My mom has said before that she used to check Sharla out of school sometimes just to watch me because I was driving her CRAZY and would do anything my sister asked. We are 10 years apart but that might as well be 10 minutes. We rarely go more than 2 days without speaking to or seeing each other. She is truly my best friend!! She treats my kids like they are her grandkids and spoils them rotten and they absolutely LOVE her. Sharla and Gabe especially have SUCH a tight relationship, when people ask me how I think Gabe will do when the new baby comes I always reply "good until Aunt Sharla tries to hold him" :) I also couldn't live without HER wonderful kids. They are so much fun and they love my kids and they are the best babysitters and friends my boys could have. Brandon has stayed the entire afternoon on a snowy day just to make a snowman with Josh, Elise was the boys' first and VERY beloved babysitter, Erika just ADORES the boys and is their official champion babysitter that we just couldn't live without - she makes everything fun, from eating lunch by making menus and playing restaurant to playing school and coloring, and Bryce shares Joshua's interest in Pokemon and Josh and Sam just love to hang out with him.

Shar, I LOVE YOU - I can't imagine my life without you! Thank you for everything you do for me EVERY SINGLE DAY and for just being there whenever I need you! I hope for my boys' sake that the bond between brothers is or can be as tight as it is between sisters, because if so, these boys are SOOO lucky!

How do I love thee??

Let me count the ways!.... So we're all downstairs getting some things moved around and doing general "house" stuff preparing for the baby when Mark says "I better go check on Gabe" only then did I realize he wasn't playing in the room anymore, and replied "you mean we have a two year old?" The next thing I heard did not sound good...it came from upstairs..."Mel, you better come and see this!"

UGH! This is the great big fat permanent marker, the kind that boasts about how permanent it is right on the package, the kind you NEVER NEVER NEVER want to find on your cabinets, refrigerator or pantry door. Mr. Clean to the RESCUE! Although this little eraser does have it's drawbacks, like don't scrub too hard, or you'll have to repaint... it is what it says it is....MAGIC! Pure WONDERFUL MAGIC - though it took me an ENTIRE square, it DID do it's job and I'm happy to report that my cabinets, appliance and walls are all marker free, no permanent damage done, though Gabe was pretty upset upon getting caught. We had to bribe him to smile here because he was sobbing saying "MOMMA, MOMMA" Poor kid, he knew he screwed up, we didn't even have a chance to discipline him about it. (sorry for the blurry photo, it was the only one I had to choose from) :)

I think I can finally say we're ready for baby Will to get here. His room is complete, clothing washed, house clean - BRING IT ON, I SAY! I am REALLY REALLY ready for him to come, I want to hold him, smell him, snuggle him and SLEEP ON MY STOMACH AGAIN! The boys can tell the time is near and get more excited by the day. The other day Sam told me that when baby Will comes he and Josh will take care of him and me and dad can take care of Gabe. I guess Gabe is already old news, they want some new blood. :)

Nothing else to report really, the boys had a fun night, they played video games for a LOT longer than I usually allow, had Pizza for dinner, jumped on the trampoline with Dad and came inside and played musical chairs with me as the music captain. AAHHH Summertime! Gabe didn't understand the whole "walk around the chairs" part and just chose to rock out to the jammin' music, dancin' away until it stopped and Mark and the boys ran to a chair, then he'd scream "MY SPOT" and attempt to steal a chair or sit on a lap. He's SO the king around here.....for a few more weeks anyway. :)

Sam going under!

I was SO surprised that Mark got Sam to actually go UNDER the water! Those that know him at all know that he is EXTREMELY water phobic! By the time we were about to come from our trip he had started to get much more brave, we were so proud of him!

Viva Las Vegas!

We are home from a wonderful and very relaxing trip to Las Vegas! Mark had to go there for work so we tagged along. We were fortunate enough to stay at the very luxurious Wynn hotel and truly felt spoiled during our entire stay! It is definitely not a place geared toward kids so our boys were among the only children there and soaked up lots of smiles and compliments from the other guests. We played at the pool almost the entire time we were there and Gabe quickly became accustomed to the poolside life. Every day we would go someone would ask him to poor water from his water bottle on their feet or allow him to just dump water on top of their head. We dubbed him the "Wynn's personal Cabana boy" as he got more attention than all of us put together and performed his "tasks" with oodles of charm. By the time we left Joshua was swimming the entire length of the pool and back and Sam even went under water with Mark! This is HUGE for Sam as he is pretty water phobic, but was a lot more comfortable by the end of the trip. I was even dunking Gabe in the water without holding his nose and he would come up laughing. I wish I could have gotten that on video! We figured we had to try the famous buffet while we were there, even though we cringed a little when the bill for our little family came to $109! We cringed even more when all Sam requested from the tables was a roll. Mark quickly explained that he would not just be eating a roll when we'd just dropped $18 on his meal alone. Everything looked up quickly though when Sam discovered that you could dip the crab leg meat in melted BUTTER! This kid LOVES butter and would probably eat it with a spoon if I would let him! So they pigged out on King Crab legs, shrimp and prime rib, we couldn't have been more proud of them! Gabe ate an entire piece of Salmon and various other things and by the time Mark offered him a chocolate chip cookie he actually looked at it with disgust! It was so funny, it was a look like "get that out of my face before I PUKE" - I told Mark he'd probably never refuse a cookie again so we better remember the moment! We also took a night to see the pirate show in front of the Treasure Island hotel, the fountains in front of the Bellagio and walked the strip to visit M&M World and the Coca-Cola store. It was a great trip but was also nice to get home and back in the swing of things. This baby is coming soon and is not the greatest traveling companion when lots of driving or walking need to be done. :)