Big Sister Haylee

Haylee has been a tremendous amount of help when it comes to Carter. She hasn't shown any jealousy towards him, and any time we mention the word diaper, she goes running from wherever in the house she was to get us a diaper and then follows up by asking if we need wipes. She truly is a wonderful little girl. I know that she misses being our one and only, but I am pretty sure that she is going to love teaching Carter all there is that this world has to offer them. Enjoy some sibling pictures!

Haylee getting her first look at little brother Carter.

A very proud Haylee holding Carter....she wanted to make sure that she was holding him, and nobody was helping her.

Haylee has always wanted to feed Carter....well, she can't since Mommy is the one who has to feed him, so when I was feeding Carter one day, she came up to my, asked me to hold her baby while she climbed on the couch. I asked her what she was going to do with her baby, and she said, "feed him mommy, he's hungry" So, she propped her baby's head on the pillow and fed her baby while I fed Carter....here is her helping me to burp Carter too. What a good helper she is!

Here are some other pictures of them.....

Byron and I are two very lucky parents to have such beautiful, healthy wonderful children.....

Ms. Independent

For the last several months, Byron and I have been prepping Haylee to be a big sister. Some of this includes going potty without mommy and daddy there, helping to set the table, do laundry, etc. Perhaps the most noticeable thing that we have given up and allowed Haylee to do on her own is to pick out her own outfits. Some of these outfits are so funny that I decided to start taking pictures of her more outrageous picks. Enjoy my big girl (I am trying hard not to call her my little girl anymore, since she is a big sister now) and some of her more daring style choices - to those who helped my with my fashion faux paus - I promise, I will break her of these bad style choices before she goes to kindergarten!

This is Haylee in a fuzzy purple vest, hot pink sunglasses meant for an infant, and brown shorts.

Haylee in a sweater vest (meant to have a long sleeve shirt under it) and gray sweat pant style shorts....

Haylee displaying a lovely mix of a button up shirt that has reddish/pink vertical stripes, purple plaid shorts and please, PLEASE notice her new boots - they are hand me downs from Dot's and they are three sizes too big for her! But she loves them.

Haylee in a lovely ocean blue tank top with anchors on it. A dark blue pant with multi colored flowers....at least she is wearing the same color, just different hues.

My FAVORITE! She picked this outfit out when we got home from the pool and had to change our clothes. This is a two in one shirt - the pink tank top that has white flowers all over it is attached to the white shirt underneath. The shorts - by far a classic; yellow with numerous different, brightly colored flowers on it. So beautiful!

What a pretty little girl she is....and she loves picking out her clothes and showing Mommy and Daddy what a good job she has done. And, for those of you who know the story, yes, she is wearing underwear under all of her shorts!!

Introducing.....

...our son, Carter Matthew. Carter was born on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 9:25am. Carter weighed in at 7lbs 9oz and measured 20.5 inches long. Carter is the first Pletcher boy to be born in 29 years. The last Pletcher boy born was his Father, Byron.


Carter's birthday came packed full of surprises! So this is how the morning started out. I was scheduled for a C-Section at 8:30 that morning, which meant that I had to be at the hospital at 6:30am. So, I woke up, took a shower and then went to plug in my curling iron to do my hair (Byron still doesn't understand why I needed to curl my hair before going to the hospital and I told him it was a girl thing....) so I went to plug it in, and it wouldn't turn on. This usually meant that the circuit had been tripped, so I went downstairs to the bathroom to reset the outlet....every time I pushed the reset button, sparks would fly out of it. So, I go back upstairs and get back into bed to get a last minute rest....Byron asked me why I went downstairs, so I told him. He then goes down to investigate (around 5:45 in the morning, about 45 minutes before we are supposed to be at the hospital!), and what has happened - our sump pump (that is on the same circuit as the bathrooms) has completely frozen up and the water in the pit is about 6 inches away from overflowing into our basement. Byron then goes to get our back up pump to try and drain the pit. I ask him if he needs help, so he tells me to go get the hose that he has hung out the basement window and drag it out away from the house for the water to drain. So I do that, then tell him that I am going to go finish my hair (It is now a little after 6:00) I finish my hair and come downstairs to see his progress, for him to tell me that the pump isn't strong enough to pump the water out of a 100 ft hose. Byron is now bailing the water out of the pit with 5 gallon buckets. It is now 6:15, so I call my mom (crying because this is NOT how the morning was supposed to have gone!) to have her send my dad down to finish bailing the water out and to figure out what needs to be done while we are in the hospital and so Byron and I could leave. My mom volunteers to take me to the hospital so Byron can finish with the pit, explain to my dad what needs to happen, and to take a shower. So off I go to the hospital.

Mom and I make it to the hospital, a little late, but in one piece. As we are walking down the hallway to the prep room, I turn around and see my mother on the floor. She had slipped on some water on the floor and hit the floor! Thankfully she didn't fall too hard or fast and wasn't hurt. That didn't stop the nurses from getting her contact information though!

So, Byron finally makes it to the hospital and we proceed with the normal prep work that accompanies a surgery. It is 8:30, and our doctor comes in to do the final walk through of what is going to happen, etc, when the nurse comes in and says that they haven't seen the medical assistant yet. My doctor then proceeds to tell the nurse to call his house number and track him down. If it weren't for the loopy drugs that they had already given me, I probably would have started crying again.

I finally get into the operating room, and Byron announces at 9:25am that we have a son. I didn't believe him and kept asking if he was sure. I had convinced myself that we were having another girl - take that Chinese Lunar Calendar and the Drano test! They put Carter on my chest for a minute so I could see him and then took him to the nursery. Thankfully the surgery and the rest of the day went well, but what an action packed morning to have!

Haylee came to visit us that afternoon, once we had settled into our room. She was so excited to meet her new little brother. The hospital even got her a cake that said, "Big Sister". She was so excited and so happy.

This is our first family picture....

Welcome to the family Carter Matthew - may you always know that you are loved by so many wonderful people. God Bless you as you grow up in this world. Your family will support and love you in everything you do.

Time Flies....

So two and a half years ago, Byron and I welcomed our first child - Haylee Elizabeth. We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into, as most first time parents don't. Haylee was quite the baby....she never wanted to sleep; didn't finally sleep through the night until 9 months, she was a picky eater, and when she did eat, didn't eat that much. She is definitely a combination of her mom and dad - getting my sassiness with her dad's inability to just SIT! She got my eyes with her daddy's curly blond hair. She truly is the perfect blend of both Byron and I.

Over the last two and a half years, we have learned her quirks, moods, and what makes her tick....she is such a little spitfire of a girl. She has always been a smart little girl. You could tell as a baby that she was frustrated that she couldn't make her body crawl, and she started walking at 10 months. Byron and I are pretty sure that it isn't totally normal for a two year old to talk as much as she does, but the conversations that we have with her (refusing to wear underwear with our skirts or wearing a sweater in July when the temps are 90+ degrees!) are hilarious and amaze us everyday. It is hard to believe that in 5 short days our baby girl will be a big sister. She is so smart and is totally aware of us having a baby. She kisses my tummy, hugs the baby, asks when the baby can come out. She has said how she is going to teach the baby how to play bubbles, ride in her jeep, and go swimming.

Over the last several weeks, as I have gotten closer to our scheduled delivery date, I have looked at Haylee and have wanted to go back to when she was a baby. I feel like with your first child you are in survival brain (not only survival for your child in both the literal and figurative ways, but for yourself too). Everything is new to you the first go round, and some

times you don't stop to take the time to look at your baby; enjoying every second, and with the second baby, you are so much less paranoid. Byron and I have been going through our old pictures and seeing Haylee as a baby and then as she gets older; taking her first bites of spinach, sitting in the grass for the first time, carving pumpkins with daddy, smelling the flowers. I sometimes feel like I should have taken more time to play with Haylee when she was our only child. I feel like I should have stopped and enjoyed those moments of the three of us playing in the backyard. I look at her now, when she plays by herself with her baby doll and stroller and think, wow...that is our little girl...that is my baby, and she is so big now.

I know that she is going to be a wonderful big sister, and for this new baby, hold on tight little one, because your big sister is going to keep you on your toes and not let you sit for a minute! I am so proud of our little girl; I hope that Byron and I can raise our next child the same way and have two well balanced, fun loving children.

I have a....BLOOM!

As most of you know, I attempt to have a green thumb, but really don't. Since we moved into this house four years ago, the landscaping has been less than stellar. We have practically ripped out every bush/plant/tree that the previous owners had (they were completely overgrown and nasty)...thus leaving our backyard a vast land of either nothing or weeds! Last summer, Byron built a flower bed next to our house, with my promise to plant something....well, I didn't, and what grew....yeah, the weeds. So, this summer, with the plans to put in our new patio and get the yard looking nice and not full of weeds, I again promised him that I would plant something. I chose a Clematis. My grandparents in Chicago have one that grows exceptionally beautiful flowers every year, and I wanted a flowering plant that would hide some of the house too...so, I set out to find a Clematis. I found one, bought it, planted it, watered it (with the constant reminder from my wonderful husband) and.....poof, I have a my first flower! This has become a new hobby and stress reliever of mine, and I hope that my thumb will eventually turn even the slightest bit of green.