Jax Wade makes his appearance

Brent and Carolyn have welcomed a baby boy, Jax Wade, to their family! He was born on April 29, after a brief labor and delivery, weighing in at 6 lbs. 10.8 oz.

As requested, Brent emailed me a photo very soon after the birth. He also called...my cell phone, Robin's cell phone and the house phone, without getting an answer at any of them. That's because Robin and I were dealing with giving two rambunctious little girls a bath and we couldn't hear anything but squeals and giggles.

Carolyn had been busy all day. I drove her to Sugarland for a scheduled massage and then Brent drove from the Medical Center to pick her up and take her to her appointment with her OB. The doctor wasn't ready to admit her to the hospital at that point, but told her to come back in an hour or so and he would check her again. She texted me a little before 5 PM that they were heading to the hospital. Brent called me at about 7:10 PM, to let me know that Carolyn was about to get her epidural and Jax was born about 35 minutes later.

When I finally retrieved the photo and showed it to Kate and told her it was her brother, she stared at it quietly for a long time...well, 15 or 20 seconds, which is a long time for Kate to look at anything quietly...and then said, "He's out now?"

When I showed the photo to Carlee, she just grinned and said "Carlee!" I kept telling her it wasn't Carlee, it was baby Jax and she eventually accepted that. I printed the photo for Kate to take to her Pre-K 3 class. She seemed to feel pretty important to have a photo of her new baby brother.

They bought a new car yesterday, or maybe it was today...one that will accommodate 3 car seats. So, Brent is coming home tonight. He'll be at home with the girls and take them to daycare in the morning, then I'll ride into Houston with him where I'll pick up the other car and drive it home. Brent will bring Carolyn and Jax home tomorrow afternoon.

I guess Kate will be okay this time. When they brought Carlee home, it took Kate a few days to get over the fact that Carlee was not only going to stay there, but her mommy and daddy would hold her sometimes. When I was there, she kept trying to get me to hold the baby instead of them. Carlee will probably be fine since she's always had a sibling around.

Carlee tells us all about it!

Brent took Kate to a birthday party this morning. Carlee saw them getting ready to leave so she hurried, struggling to get shoes on, only to learn that she wasn't going. To make it up to her, Carolyn told her they would come see Cookie.

There were a number of photo ops, but I never had the camera ready and she wouldn't repeat them. I asked her about her friends at school and she started telling me all sorts of things, gesturing to her arm and her head, talking up a storm. Of course, I didn't have the camera on and commented to Carolyn that if I reached for it Carlee would stop what she was doing. She turned to Carolyn about that time and continued the conversation and I grabbed the camera and started shooting the video.

Part way through Carlee's speech, Carolyn realized that she had switched from talking about her friends to telling us about "the wheels on the bus" and "the babies on the bus." Enjoy!

Girls and boys

Kate was on the little John Deere, the boys were "roping" and Carlee was trying to fasten a bike helmet. Just a regular Sunday afternoon.

Brent and the girls had come over and picked up Kelly and the boys and they went down to the neighbors to look at the cows. Just a little outing.

Happy Valentines

These little valentines were happy to see me, especially when they realized that I was bringing goodies for them. Not much, really. But, it doesn't take much to make them happy.

As you can see, it's almost impossible to get them to stand still long enough for a good photo. This is how it went:
1. They both look at me smiling
2. I back up a step to get them both in the frame
3. Carlee takes a step forward and then gets distracted
4. Repeat steps 1-3
5. Carlee takes a step forward as Kate gets distracted
6. Repeat all steps, as many times as you want. The outcome is unlikely to change.

Mule Train!

Taking the trash to the dumpster is fun now that they have a Mule. Carlee didn't want to ride in it at first. Wendy said they could hear her screams next door. She settled down by the time they got to the road.

Making music

Musical instruments were much enjoyed by Kate and Carlee as shown here. Pop demonstrated the proper position for Carlee, who didn't quite know how to hold her little guitar.

Kate looks like a rock star and sings into the mike like she's been doing it for years!

New little Bubela on the way!

Carolyn and Brent will be welcoming a new baby next May. They just found out this week that it's a boy. They plan to name him Jax Wade. He is due on Carlee's 2nd birthday, May 17. Carolyn has been a week or 10 days early with the girls, so she is expecting the same deal this time. She doesn't like anything to mess up our yearly trip to Schlitterbahn the Sunday before Father's Day. Of course, we are all very excited to have a new baby coming!