Barrett Lee

Welcome to the world Barrett Lee Burgess!

Barrett was born November 20, at 5:39 pm and weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long.  My water broke early Wednesday morning, at 12:40 am, so we woke up, called my parents (who took 3 tries of calling the house phone before someone answered!), and waited for them to get to our house to stay with Brooks and Keely so we didn't have to wake them up before we headed to the hospital.  We got to the hospital about 2:00 am and tried to get some sleep since I was not very far along in labor and feeling minimal contractions.  They ended up inducing me by starting Potussin (sp?) around 5 am or so since I couldn't sleep anyway and we needed to get something happening! I started feeling stronger contractions about mid morning.  Labor was moving a little slow, but that was ok since I had to get payroll submitted for ACE that morning anyway! :) Finally around 1 pm I was far enough along to get an epidural and we hoped I would progress pretty fast from there like I did with Keely.  I tried to get some sleep during this time too since I hadn't slept any since before we left home.  I didn't get much sleep and finally a little after 5 they determined I was finally progressing enough to get things ready for Barrett to come! After pushing twice, Barrett was born! While it was a fairly long labor, it wasn't terrible.  It actually mirrored my labor with Brooks because my water broke with Brooks at about 12:45 am and he was born at 7:35 pm later that evening.  Funny how my two boys were so similar coming into the world, and Keely was very different! It will be fun to see how they continue to compare and differ as they grow up!

My mom brought Keely and Brooks over to meet Barrett the next morning.  Brooks was excited and I think Keely really had no idea what was going on and ignored him for the most part until we got her up close to look at him.  She kept saying, "ooo, baby.  oooo, baby" over and over.

She was fascinated by his little feet!

Brooks has been really good about having a baby around and seems very interested in him.  He has said several times that he wants Barrett to be a football player when he gets older.  I think Brooks will love having a brother to play sports with!

Here is Barrett the 1st full day we were home.  He slept ALOT! I don't remember how much my other kids slept when they were newborns, but it seems like Barrett sleeps more.  In the first few days I had to wake him up several times during the day and at night to eat after 4 hours of not eating.  He had lost 8% body weight by the time we had left the hospital and really didn't show much interest in eating unless we forced him.  However, he has started getting better with eating and at his 1 week weight checkup, he was already up to 8 lbs 4 oz, so it seems he's growing just fine! Let's hope this sleeping/laid back attitude continues! Sure would make it easier on us all!

The first couple days at home we watched a lot of Snoopy movies for Keely and Brooks.  Keely LOVES Snoopy right now! Especially the Thanksgiving Charlie Brown.

Barrett seems so small right now!

Keely has started fighting some naps and bedtime so needless to say she has been more tired lately.  She finally just gave in while watching Thomas the Tank Engine while I was getting lunch ready one morning.  She did not want to wake up to eat!

Both kids are pretty proud of their little brother!

And finally, Happy Thanksgiving from Brooks! He made a pilgrim hat at preschool and was pretty excited to show me when he got home!

Go Big Red!

A couple of weeks ago, we got the opportunity to go to the Husker football game against Northwestern.  My dad had been offered 3 tickets and since they were still in the middle of harvest and he was unable to go, he offered them to Blake and I.  We thought it would be fun for Brooks to experience a game, so my Mom agreed to watch Keely for the day, and Blake and I took Brooks to the game.  We got there plenty early, which was a good thing because apparently being 8 months pregnant REALLY slows me down walking! We parked pretty far away from the stadium and I think Brooks and I were both tired of walking by the time we got to the stadium! We went down close to the field first so Brooks could see some players warming up and see the field.  Looks like all they are watching right now is the cheerleaders! ha!

We ran into some people I knew from Henderson, so they offered to take a family picture for us.  Brooks looks funny in the pictures because he still thinks he has to open his mouth wide open for a smile, but we are working on it!

Our seats were actually pretty good.  We were on the East side of the stadium at about the 40 yard line, so we got sun most of the game and could see really well. 

Brooks was so excited to get popcorn at the game!

Unfortunately we had a little bit of an issue with our seats.  The company my dad had gotten them from had 3 seats, but only 2 were together and the other one was 6 seats down in the same row.  There was only 2 people sitting in our row when we got there, and they happened to be the 2 seats right next to our 2 seats.  We sat down right next to them, and the lady next to me didn't even acknowledge we were there, say hi, or anything...seemed a little odd to me, but I thought whatever.  I ended up having to nudge her arm to get her attention and asked her if they were seats 12 and 13 (we were 14 and 15 and our other one was 7).  She said yes, and was very quick to say that we must have one seat further down the row.  I said, yes, we do.  She then said, before I could even ask, "We don't move down for anyone.  We've had these seats for 50 years and we don't move.  One of you will have to sit over there."  I was so taken aback by the abruptness of the comment and attitude that I couldn't even answer her back! I understand that they must get asked to move down every game since this company gives their tickets to different people every week, but she was not nice about it AT ALL!  And it was for a 3 year old that literally would only take up 6 inches of room on the bleachers.  What does 6 inches matter!!?!? And of course, once Blake got back and I explained it to him and me being 8 months pregnant and all, I actually cried about the situation! I really didn't want us to have to separate for the whole game! What's the fun in that?!? We decided to just wait it out and see if the people on the other side of Blake would ever show up.  They ended up getting there half way through the 1st quarter, but then left at the end of the 1st qtr, so we were super lucky with that! Brooks was able to sit on Blake's or my lap or stand in between our legs while the seats besides us were full, and he didn't seem to mind one bit! The 4 people behind us also left to go watch the game at a bar because it was too hot for them...yeah, I don't know why because it was super nice, but it was better for us to have the space!! And needless to say, the lady beside me did not say another word to me the entire game.  I couldn't believe the harshness! However, the people in front of us were super nice and talked to Brooks and didn't mind getting elbowed or kneed a few times by a squirmy 3 year old.  Thank goodness!  As you can see in this picture, Brooks didn't mind standing for part of the game! He had a lot of fun.

Letting our balloons go for the first score.  Thank goodness it was on the first drive because I was really tired of holding them between my legs!!

Overall we had a great time, and no, we did not end up staying until the end for the miraculous hail mary play.  :(  We had decided to leave in the middle of the 4th quarter when the score was tied because we knew I would be extremely slow leaving the stadium, and it was already a really long game as it was! Brooks was pretty tired too, (he had wanted to leave in the 1st quarter because he was tired...aka, nap time! but once I took him to the restroom and walked around a little bit with him, he woke up and enjoyed the rest of the game!) so we just headed out.  Blake even ran ahead to pick us up because I was moving so slow...seriously, I could not believe how badly my hips hurt!! Ridiculous! 8 months pregnant to a Husker football game was not the best idea, but hey, we made it! So in the end, we heard the hail mary touchdown in the van on our way out of Lincoln, but at least the Huskers pulled out the win!

The Many Faces of Keely

I have tried a few times to put Keely's hair in pigtails because it is getting long enough that it's constantly in her eyes.  It's hard to get her to sit still long enough to get them in, and her hair is so fine that it's really hard for me to do! I know I need to try more often and maybe she would get better at sitting still and leaving them in.  Here are the pictures from the last time I got her to let me put them in.  She had so many different facial expressions as I was trying to get a good picture that I had to keep them all! 

More Picture Update

I don't have a lot of time tonight, so I'm going the easy route and just doing a picture update again.  Here are just a few more pictures of our daily lives the past week or so....
The kids have had some fun time playing at Grandma Jost's with cousins and getting to see some of the harvest action the past couple weeks.  

 Keely talking to Grandma....probably saying, 'ooooo...doggie'.  Brooks is busy in the background playing baseball with his new gloves and the bases Grandma has.

 I just had to take a picture of how small Brooks looks in Sunday School.  He is one of the youngest there, and literally just stands there through all the singing and action songs, but it's still pretty cute.  He knows at least some of the songs because he sings them at home, but we just haven't been able to get him to do any of the actions or sing at church with everyone else!

 Brooks still really loves to play games, especially "Go Fish".  Unfortunately Keely can now climb up the chairs to the game table, so it is a complete disaster area, but she just wants to do whatever Brooks does! (Right now she is playing dominoes, meaning they are being dumped everywhere and some make it back in the tin...what a mess, but keeps them occupied for awhile).  Brooks must have had games on his mind the other night when I put him down for bed because after we had read, prayed, sang his songs, I always ask him if he has any more questions before I leave so he doesn't get up just to ask us some random question about KU Jayhawks or football.  He was pretty tired that night and just replied, "no, go fish."  It took him a second, but after he realized what he had said, he started laughing uncontrollably.  I was laughing pretty hard too!

 Keely getting some morning coffee (not really, it's an empty mug, but she likes to pretend!)

 Just had to snap this picture of the 2 of them coloring at Grandma's.  Too cute with their little bare feet!

 Brooks and his new basketball hoop for upstairs.  He can't wait till basketball season gets more underway!

 Modeling his new stocking hat just like Daddy's!

 And of course Keely had to try it too :)