Catching Up

Ok, so I tried the hard core blogging thing and it just didn't work out for me. Blogging once a week, or even once a month for that matter, just doesn't seem to want to fit into our busy schedule. So for now you'll just have to get used to our quarterly updates.

Now let's pick up from where we last left off. For Halloween we decided that this would be the last year we would be able to do a family theme. It's our assumption that next year Brayden will want to be a Ninja Turtle or a Power Ranger, so we decided to do things Nintendo style this year. I had to do a little crafty work on all the costumes to get them to work, but they all turned out pretty cute in the end.

Somewhere between this holiday and Thanksgiving Brodie and I got into a small fender bender. By Brodie and I, I mean that I stopped at a stop sign and Brodie claims I actually stopped (which oddly he didn't expect) so that's why he ran into me while following me out of our neighborhood. Both cars, along with us, were all ok but seriously who hits their prego wife at a stop sign!

Moving right along we get to Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to be able to spend Thanksgiving with lots of family. Magan and James even came down from Utah. We celebrated by going to a Rockets game, eating lots of good food, the boys played in a turkey bowl, we played Nintendo Wii, went to the ranch in Fredericksburg, and my brave sister-in-law accompanied me at 5am for a black Friday shopping day. Thanks Mag!

Next we have Christmas. We again were able to spend this holiday with lots of family. The whole Thornton clan even came down to celebrate with us. It was fun opening up presents with the whole family since last year it was just us. It was even fun to watch Brayden get excited, although in the end the paper was more interesting to him than the presents. We also had a really nice Christmas Eve meal...that ended up being a delayed a few hours. Of course we couldn't go another month without Brodie causing drama. As he so lovingly helped to prepare the food for the feast, the rest of us took a small break and ran upstairs to tend to some gift wrapping. Everyone was merry and bright when all of a sudden we hear frantic yelling coming from downstairs. My mom was the first on the scene, and as I was running down the stairs I hear a panicked "OH MY GOSH!" That oh my gosh was as a result of my mother seeing Brodie's hand wrapped in a dish towel soaked in blood. My dear dear husband had thought that the best way to get 2 frozen rolls apart would be to hold them in his hand and jam a steak knife down the middle of them. This of course worked better than he had hoped as the knife went right on through the rolls and then through his hand. My dad quickly rushed him off to get 4 stitches on one side of his hand, 1 stitch on the other side, and lots of bandages. The boys eventually made it home for our meal.

The next week we headed back up to the cabin for some good ole country fun. By country fun I mean Brodie got hurt again. He and his dad couldn't wait to check out his new gun, so they set up a target, found a good shooting spot, and took a few shots to see how well it hit the target. Brodie's dad went first, and then Brodie took a turn. It was right before his brother Eric took a turn that I said "why is there blood dripping down your face?" Brodie's dad turned around to agree that there was indeed blood on him. Little did Mark know that he too had blood dripping down his face. Luckily Eric learned from their mistakes and didn't hold the scope as close as they had. Brodie probably should have gotten stitches again as he split in between his eyes wide open, but he refused to have to get them twice in 1 week. Instead we went to the store and bought a lot of gauze, medicine, and butterfly bandages. It's amazing that he made it to New Year's Eve.

Speaking of New Year's Eve, we ended up having a lot of last minute fun at the Weaver household. Nick and Julie invited a handful of people over and we ate way too much junk food until all hours of the night. It was a blast.

Shortly into the new year our little Brayden became old enough to enter into the nursery at church. He made it a whole 30 minutes before he awoke from a nap and realized we were gone. He began crying uncontrollably and we were given our sweet boy back.

Next we get to Austin Weaver's 1 year birthday party. Although his birthday wasn't for a few weeks, my thoughtful friend Julie was trying to schedule the party around my due date amongst other family plans. It was last on January 24th that I couldn't take it anymore. After stories from multiple family members and the internet (which is never wrong!) I decided enough was enough. I demanded that the boys go out and find me some castro oil. While the boys went out, the girls and I picked up from the party and put the kids to bed. When they arrived back at home, I snuck into the kitchen before I chickened out. Nick ran in and plugged my nose and I gulped down a tablespoon of the nasty stuff. We decided that was just enough to put me into labor. Sure enough at 4 am the next morning I woke up with contractions 5 minutes apart. Worried we'd created a false alarm, I stayed up for 2 1/2 hours tracking the contractions before I woke Brodie up.

We called the Weaver's to come get Brayden and then we called Aysha from our ward to watch Brayden until Nick could get to our home. As soon as help arrived, we were off to the hospital. I was determined to get this kid out. We arrived at the hospital where we were told that we were having a baby. Best news I'd heard all year. They broke my water and the process continued. I eventually got my epidural and continued to progress. It was at 6:30 that night that we determined this kid wasn't going to make it out on his own. At 6:50 pm Rylan Patrick Simmons was born via c-section. He was 21 inches and 9 pounds 5 ounces - a week early too. Here's the evidence:

Since coming home we've had lots of help and lots of visitors. Thank you everyone for the gifts, food, visits, phone calls, and texts. Rylan is settling in nicely to his new home. Even his big brother Brayden doesn't seem to mind him. Brayden only bothers Rylan to give him kisses or his pacifier; although he does steal that sometimes too. I can't let Rylan have all the credit though, so here are some super cute pics of the boys since our last post:

Last we have February events. Brodie turned 27 and made us feel a little bit older. Since we had the baby, we didn't get a chance to celebrate Simmons style, but he was more than spoiled with gifts...next year we'll make up for it. For Valentine's Day Brodie made my grandma, mom, and me a very nice dinner. Again things were very low key. Lastly, since we had 4 generations here again, we went to the park to capture some good family pics. They turned out pretty cute:

That's it for now. Stay tuned in a few months for the next BIG update:)