Jason and his sisters

The girls just love their new little brother. They can't get enough of him!

Pics of Jason

Announcing Jason Grant Fletcher

He is finally here! Born 7/27/07 at 12:00pm weighing 9 lbs (actually 8 lbs 15.8 ounces) and 19.5 inches long. The labor and delivery went well. He is healthy and so far he is content. We are so excited to have him in our family. Abigail and Carly will be coming soon to see their new little brother. They will both be great big sisters. More pictures to come.

Totally Exhausted

My sister Brenda and her family left this morning. It was hard for us to see them go. We had a great time and wish we could see them more than once or twice a year. Abigail and Carly had so much fun playing with them the last week and a half. This morning at breakfast Abigail said that it’s going to be SO boring without them here. Tonight we went out to Red Robin for dinner and saw just how much Abigail has been enjoying herself.

We’ve never had kids who have fallen asleep in odd places so for our 5 ½ year old to crash at dinner must mean she was totally exhausted.

Cousins!!

After living in Washington for over six years, we finally got my sister, Brenda, and her family up to visit this past week. Brenda has four kids - Dylan, Caylee, and Emily are almost eight and Fox is 5 ½. The kids have played non-stop ever since they got here. It’s been a lot of fun to have them around and not nearly as chaotic as you would think.

Seattle rarely sees temperatures in the 90’s, but last Wednesday we broke a record set in 1951 and reached 98 degrees – that’s hot, even if you aren’t eight months pregnant. To stay cool we spent the day with a bunch of friends at Newcastle Beach. We also went with the Gardners to the Locks, the Aquarium, and the Pacific Science Center.

While Brenda and Alan enjoyed a few days in the San Juan Islands, Justin and I took all six kids to the Woodland Park Zoo. I’m sure we must have looked like quite the spectacle (3 seven year olds, 2 five year olds, a 3 year old, and a baby on the way.)

We've really enjoyed their visit and hope it doesn't take another six years to get them up here again.

Our First Trip to the ER

We experienced our first trip to the emergency room yesterday while staying in Ocean Shores. Abigail was trying to hide from her cousin and caught her leg on a metal bed frame. The cut was deep enough that we knew a simple Band-Aid wasn’t going to do the trick. Oceans Shores is such a small town that their emergency care is at the local fire station. They cleaned it up the best they could and told us she would need to get stitches. They called the one doctor in town but his office was closed. So we were sent to the nearest hospital in Aberdeen, about 25 minutes away. To make a long story short – our hospital visit lasted over 2 ½ hours. Abigail was a trooper through the whole thing and choked back the tears. I think it was more traumatic and gory for me than her. The doctor told us she’s the best five year-old he’s ever treated. She’s walking around fine now, but she’s disappointed that she won’t be able to play in the water for the next 10 days.

Abigail in the ER - The firemen in Ocean Shores gave Abigail a balloon and this teddy bear to keep her company.

Ocean Shores

Justin was finally able to take a few days off this past week so we decided to join his family at Ocean Shores, WA. Ocean Shores is a small town along the Washington Coast – about 2 ½ hours away from our house. We left here on Thursday afternoon and came home this afternoon. The wind along the beach was outrageous and of course the ocean is way too cold to play in, but the girls still had a great time and enjoyed playing with their cousins.

(Carly, Abigail, Hallie, and Haden)

35 Weeks!! - "Peep" Show

Today marks my 35th week of pregnancy! My doctor is planning to induce me (I was induced with Abigail and Carly too) and has mentioned having the baby at the end of this month. I’m still leaning toward waiting til the first part of August, but we’ll see how willing I am to wait as it gets closer.

I’ve been asked to post a picture of me pregnant. I hesitate to post any belly shots, but seeing as how many of our friends and family, and all of my siblings, have never seen me pregnant I’ll let you witness the bulging of the belly (and everything else that can possibly get bigger). It reminds me of putting marshmallow peeps in the microwave and watching them puff up til they nearly explode.

20 Weeks

25 Weeks

30 Weeks

35 Weeks

I must add this is not a shirt I wear in public.

A Day with Dad!

The past several weeks Justin has been working a lot of overtime so there have been times when the girls haven’t seen him for days. Abigail and Carly are without a doubt “Daddy’s Girls” so it’s hard on them to not get to spend as much time with him as they are use to. On Saturday Justin finally had a day off. He took the girls to the Woodland Park Zoo while I went to my baby shower. Of course they had a fabulous time.

I also got to spend some time with Dad on Saturday when we went out on a date with two other couples. We had a coupon for 50% off our entire meal (appetizers and drinks included) at Chevys, my favorite Mexican restaurant. To earn the discount we had wear a sombrero, sing a Mexican song, and bring in several other Mexican themed items. Thanks to our fearless friends we earned our discount and had a great time. The girls had a fabulous time with a new babysitter… in fact Abigail thought that was even better than going to the zoo.

It’s a Boy! – My Baby Shower

Yesterday I was given a baby shower. My friend Tara was the host and Stephanie and Camille helped her put together a shower that makes Martha Stewart look ordinary… not a detail goes untouched. Everything was fabulous.. the food was great, chicken salad croissants, fruit kabobs, spinach dip, and “Oreo madness” for dessert… all favorites of mine. It was a fun afternoon and really made us get excited for our new little boy. When I showed Justin all of the gifts he commented that there was so much blue... quite a change from all the pink and purple we are use to.

Stephanie, Me, Tara, and Camille