Happy Birthday Nicholas Donovan!!!

He's finally here!!! Nicholas Donovan Stahl made his grand entrance at 12:39am on August 21! After spending the day at home in labor, we headed to the hospital around 10:00 on the evening of the 20th....Nicky joined us a mere 2 hours later! It was fast and furious, but we both made it through it well. Poor Nicky had some bruising in his face and head due to a very tight cord around his neck, but he is recovering well and is no longer our little "blueberry". His brothers love him and can't get enough holding time in. We are very blessed with our 3 wonderful sons and look forward to all the experiences ahead of us. If you want to see Nicholas's hospital pics, go to freemanhealth.com and look at the Freeman Babies Online. Just enter the birthdate and look for my name...you can even leave us comments on there! Stay tuned for more updates on our bundle of boy!

7lbs. 9.6oz.....20inches!






Two happy big brothers




Our little blonde monkey on his first night home

What a Kid!

August 14 marked the first day of school for my big first grader and we had another surprise in store for that same evening! He was so excited for school to start this year. He was completely prepared..right down to his Spiderman backpack and cool new Spiderman lunchbox. He informed me before school that morning that he thought all the kids would LOVE his new lunchbox. haha I wanted to get some pictures of him before we left that morning and all he would say was "make sure you get my lunchbox in there Mom!". He had a great first day and I hope that he keeps up his love for learning through the years.
Now the other part of this blog is about a very stubborn tooth. Not only was the tooth stubborn, but Ian proved to be quite stubborn too! We've been patiently waiting for a few weeks now to yank his first loose tooth...he wasn't wanting us to do it and fought us every time we tried to even look at it. Finally he comes to me on Thursday and asks me to wrap a paper towel around his tooth because he wanted to pull it himself. haha Well, he did try but it didn't work out like he wanted it to...so......Dad FINALLY got to have a go at it. Ian was a little shocked once he was holding it in his hand and he carried around an old compact mirror for the rest of the evening so he could look at his new "hole". Now when it came time for bed he refused to put the tooth under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. He insisted that we put the tooth in a plastic baggie and tape it to the side of his bunkbed so that the tooth fairy for sure would see it. haha As soon as I woke him up the next morning, he popped over the side of the bed and exclaimed "ohhhh, there's money!!!" I guess the Tooth Fairy did good this time! haha

All dressed up and ready for his first day back!



Look at my "hole" :-)
Okay, for those that are wondering about the string around the ear.....Ian informed me that this was his "Aniken Skywalker braid"....he's a huge Star Wars fan and this is part of his disguise when he's in Jedi mode. I've tried hiding the string, but he keeps finding it again! haha
The very proud owner of a shiny new Golden Dollar straight from the Tooth Fairy

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I'm kind of on a role this last week with my blogging! I'm actually trying to keep my camera picture free until we head to the hospital...hence, my frequent blogs! :-) Well this one is about my boys' first trip fishing in the canoe with their Daddy. As much as I would have liked to go with them, canoes aren't really made for very pregnant ladies. So, I snapped a few pictures of the boys before they headed off and they were sooo excited. Trevor especially was bouncing around as this was his very first time to go in the boat...Ian has been once before but was still pretty happy about getting to go again. It was pretty cute to hear Ian telling Trevor all about the "boat rules" before they headed off. We had to make sure their life jackets would fit them first and once we got them on, Trevor didn't want to take his off. Despite getting rained on most of the day, they ended up having a great time and are looking forward to doing it again very soon!

Trevor's face says it all :-D
He wanted to practice with his new fishing pole before leaving..lol

Ian giving Trevor a "lesson" on canoe etiquette
Trying to "help" Daddy load the canoe
Sooooo ready to go!!

Trevor turns 4!!! A little early....

Just to warn you now...there's quite a few pictures to look at on this one! We celebrated Trevor's 4th birthday on Friday evening. I can't believe how fast time has flown by....my baby is officially a "big boy" now! Now, his birthday isn't officially until Monday, August 11, but we wanted all the family to be able to celebrate with us, so we did it a little early this year. Trev has been sooooo excited about having his party too! He has been telling me for over a month now exactly what kind of cake he wanted....a blue race car.....and he stood at my elbow for the duration of the decorating process to make sure I did it like he wanted! haha He LOVES cars and trucks...really, really loves them...and he was very excited to get quite a few cars, trucks, and a new race car track for his birthday. His expressions are always so great and he was very enthusiastic while opening each and every gift. He made sure to play with each and every thing before we carted him off to bed too and was immediately at it again this morning before we had much of a chance to even wake up. Well, here are some pictures from his party!

One "made-to-order" race car cake for my baby boy
He waited very impatiently all day to have a piece too!
Oh boy!!! More trucks!!
Ian was very eager and willing to help explain how everything worked :-)
He suddenly got shy when we started singing Happy Birthday to him............I think he gets that from his Momma!
Got em' all in one blow!
The air-powered "stomp on it" Monster truck was a huge hit!
Dad even got to play with everything for a little bit
Oh boy...another truck..and this one has a winch on it!!
He is actually holding his new Scooby Doo fishing pole above his head here...he kept moving when I tried to take the picture of it.
Hard at work with his new tools and toolbox....course, the goggles are a must, even upside down! haha
Ian took this picture and begged me to post it...so here is me and my birthday boy!

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

Considering how extremely hot it's been lately...and it's not just my hormones screaming that....we haven't been spending much time outside. With heat indexes around 110 degrees, we've pretty much been inside bound. So, the boys have figured out new ways to entertain themselves and me. They discovered the stash of old halloween costumes and have been hamming it up for my personal entertainment. Trevor has even gotten into the spirit and he is the boy that hates to dress up. Well, the other day out comes Ian in his power ranger suit (minus the mask since they tore it up) and right behind him is Trevor! They looked so darn cute that I had to snap some pics of them. Now, Trevor has a love for cars and trucks...I mean he REALLY loves them....so off came the power ranger suit and on went the hot wheels outfit. He wanted to be a race car driver and sounded just like ole' Ricky Bobby of Talladega Nights..."I wanna go fast!!" hahaha Later on that day I caught them playing 'Star Wars' in the garage...complete with Darth Vader mask, black robe, and light sabers. At least it was a nice change from the usual arguments!! Never a dull moment around here I tell ya. So, here are a few pictures that I took of my guys hamming it up for the camera.


My two Power Rangers
Imitating his big brother
Watch out now!! I know special moves :-D
I feel so safe with my two protectors here! :-)
This is how I go fast Mom!!!


Darth Vader and Obi-One came to visit
I think Darth won the first round

**Baby not Included**

This past weekend, my very best friend, Jenifer, and my wonderful Mother-in-Law & Sister-in-Law, Joy & Alice, threw me a baby shower for our newest edition. It was wonderful! We received many adorable things to dress our little man in, plenty of diapers (thank goodness!!!), and several great keepsake blankets from our family. My wonderful Mother had pity on her poor grandson and bought him a new carseat! Hooray!! This has been a source of anxiety for me since my old carseat was, unfortunately, not correctly stored by my child's father (he left it in his workshop) and our cat has been using it his own little bed since Trevor outgrew it. Imagine my surprise to have Donovan drag it out and I find it so dirty I can't get it clean. I dreaded having to clean that thing up and put my new baby in it...so, Mom got him a brand new one and it's fabulous! It's just too bad I'll only be able to use it on one baby! haha There were, of course, many comments about my every growing belly...I'm just about to outgrow my maternity shirts even though I haven't gained much....but the day was filled with love and affection and I had a wonderful time! Thank you to everyone that made it so memorable for me! My bags are packed, the carseat is installed, the boys are prepped, and all we need now is.....a baby!!


Shirley couldn't wait to help open presents!
I had my very own little helper that day :-)
This is a great blanket that Aunt Sis made Nicholas...it's longer than I am tall, so this is only half of it. The older boys are already arguing over who gets to use it first! haha
Keeping Mom busy writing down gifts
checking out Nicholas's new carseat
Yep, Mom, I'm about to outgrow this one too :-D
Mmmmm, waiting patiently for cake
Caught me when I wasn't looking...what a belly!
Everyone should have a cheesy grin and big belly!!