The Last 2 weeks

The messiest we have seen his bib in a really long time - he's usually very good with a spoon...


First bath - he did great! He was calm and seemed to really enjoy it!

Puffy hair after the bath


While down at my folks, my mom had me go through an old dresser with old clothes and such. I ditched most of it but kept my flippers - I just couldn't part with them - and Evan had a blast walking around in them!


The boys with their great grandmother, Hilda, who came to visit.


A funny shot that I got while getting the picture for the baby announcement - totally doesn't even look like Drew, I just thought it was hilarious!


We had to say good-bye to Uncle Dave this past week as he was going out of town for a few weeks. We had him over for dinner and I worked really hard at not crying - we're really really going to miss seeing him every week!


At 3 weeks, Drew is already getting pretty good at his head control and neck strength. I think I sense another early crawler.

I can't believe it's May 1st tomorrow...time is flying by. I hope you enjoyed the update via pictures, it's about all I have time for at the moment!

Tid Bit

My home is now a house. I have nothing in my closets, drawers, or cabinets. I have nothing on my walls and the holes from the nails are filled in. We are now living out of duffel bags and we have only the essentials in the bathroom. Toothbrush. Toothpaste. Face wash. A bar of soap. Contact case and solution. That's it. It's like camping - only with bedrooms and running water.

That's the update - we're still here, just really busy. Now that the packing is all done...let the cleaning begin!

Drew update

The 2 week (minus 1 day) stats are:

8lbs 2oz - he's totally regained all his birth weight back and then some! Yay!
21 inches - there's a reason he's looked bigger to us! 2 inches will do that ya know.
14 inches for his head - the same - which is good.

We're doing really well here. Less overwhelmed than yesterday but busy busy busy.

You know that 'uh oh' feeling?

So you know the feeling you get when you realize that the check book isn't balanced correctly and it's your fault? Or the way your stomach feels as you tip over to the downward slope of the roller coaster and you feel like everything is in your throat and you want to puke at the same time? You know that 'oh no' feeling -- I know you do.

Well, I do, too. As in I felt it this afternoon when I realized I have only 3 weeks from tomorrow until we pull out of this beautiful city and state. Only 3 weeks until I leave Evan with my mom for 10 days. Only 3 weeks until I have to say good bye to friends. Only 3 weeks to pack everything up and this week is so busy already. And the worst part? I seriously thought, until today, that I had 4 weeks.

Yeah...no. So despite feeling a touch overwhelmed, I'm blogging to let you all know that I will be scarce on the blog for a while. I'll try and do quick updates (like tomorrow for Drew's 2 week appt) - but nothing much more than snippets here and there...thanks for understanding.

Update via Pictures

Evan's 'squeeze face'

We visited my folks in the springs while some good friends were in town and dad got good time in with Drew


Evan helped Grammy with making breakfast


Spending time with Aunt Kelly


The boys with their grandparents


Family picture since we were all coordinated (mostly on accident, too!)


Evan with his Papa Colin (my folks British neighbor)

Airplanes!

Last week, Scot had the grand idea to take Evan to the smaller airport here in town so he could watch the planes come in and take off. So we drove the 15 minutes away and parked on the side of the road and waited. After about 10 minutes we were about to give up when there were 3 planes (just little bi-planes) that took off right in a row. Evan loved it!

Drew's Special Place

I don't know how other women with kids less than 2 years apart do the whole showering thing while both kids are awake and no husband around, but this is what I found to work.

Eyes Wide Open

I still sleep a lot, but when I'm awake, mommy and daddy love telling me how much cuter I am when my eyes are open!

Baptism

We had Drew baptized this past Sunday - I know, I know, a bit young, but logistics just made it happen that way. Thankfully, I was feeling up to it only 4 days after giving birth...

Drew (and Evan) did really well at the front of the church. Drew didn't spit on the pastor and only cried a little at the end. Evan stayed in Scot's arms until my arms were empty and the pastor was praying. It was so wonderful to have family and friends there to witness the baptism of this little child the Lord has given us. We feel so blessed.

We had a very simple lunch afterward at the house. "Wala" sandwiches (just mega subs), chips, drinks, fruit, and a cake. We were able to enjoy our back patio as it was warm enough to be in shorts and t-shirts (though none of us were) and just had a grand ole time.

Drew Ariel

This is for all of you who want to know how things ‘went down’ with Drew.

For starters, I was almost a week over. After a Drs appointment on Monday morning determining that my body was not progressing the way it ought to be, my doc told me that he would schedule a natural induction for me the following night at the hospital. Scot and I went home, called who we needed to, and spent that day and the next just enjoying time with Evan, doing some tidying and cleaning, and praying that we would not need to actually use the ‘natural’ induction methods. I was very much natural birth as much as possible as long as it didn’t compromise Drew or myself health wise.

Tuesday evening came and I was still feeling nothing to suggest I would be starting labor anytime soon, so off to the hospital we went. We got “checked in” to the hospital, and our huge L&D suite, and I got hooked up to the monitors so the nurses could “see” what was going on. The nurse looked at me and told me I was having contractions every 2 minutes. I had no idea. I couldn’t feel them and because of that, I was told I wasn’t really in labor yet. I was ‘checked’ and even though the monitors said I was contracting, it wasn’t doing anything to help me along. Also, because of the unfeelable contractions, I wasn’t allowed to use the drug that would help me dilate. Bummer. So my doc came in and gave me a few options. 1) Spend the night in the hospital and see where I was in the morning and if I hadn’t changed, he would either start me on Pitocin or break my water or 2) Start me on Pitocin or break my water right then. Scot and I talked, and since we didn’t feel like I would progress at all in the night, and the doc and the nurses told me that if my water was broken, my body was prime for labor, we decided to have my water broken then, thinking that I would start labor sooner rather than later. Wrong.

I was 20 minutes on the monitor (and bouncing on the birthing ball at the same time), and 40 minutes walking the hallways from 9pm on Tuesday when my water was broken, to 4:15am when I was just so tired I couldn’t do it anymore. After multiple popsicles, watching “The Proposal” during the 20 minute stints on the ball/monitor, and telling myself I couldn’t just give up and that I had to keep walking to at least try and get things moving in the direction of labor (I still hadn’t felt contractions at this point), I was beat. I was so discouraged that my body just didn’t know what to do, and scared out of my mind that 9am would roll around (that magic 12-hour point when chance of infection increases), I would still be at 2cm, and my doctor would put me on Pitocin to start labor. So I got comfortable and started to drift off when BAM, a contraction hit. It wasn’t overly painful, and I figured I would just get some sleep in before the real fun started. Wrong, again. 2 minutes later, there was another one. And then another, and another, and…well, you get the idea. Scot had also laid down, so I waited as long as I could in bed until I couldn’t wait any longer (45 minutes) and then finally woke him up so we could walk the hallways. I think we make 5 rounds on the floor before I had to go back to my room to keep up the laboring. We called my mom and she arrived around 6.

At about 6:30, a nurse ‘checked’ me and found that I was at a 4! Praise the Lord, I was progressing! The contractions were every 2 minutes and I could get through them fine, but not without bending over something. At 7, my doc came in and checked me and found me to be a 6. Wow. There was a reason the contraction from the last 30 minutes had been stronger. My doc left to go to his clinic and said he would be back when the nurses called him to tell him I was closer. We teased him that he should just get breakfast at the hospital instead of driving to and from his office. He should have listened to us. The contractions kept getting stronger and stronger and finally, another nurse checked me at about 7:45 and told me I was at an 8.5 and she was going to call my doctor. About 20 minutes later, I was hoping my doctor would make it as I could tell I was getting nearer to the end.

IF THERE ARE GUYS READING THIS --YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH

As with Evan, I waited until the very last moment to get into the bed. I stayed on the bouncing ball until I felt the need to push at about 8:10. Little did I know that I was at a 9.5 and I wasn’t allowed to push, so I had to ‘huff’ through 4 horrible contractions on my back before they let me push this little guy out. I pushed 3 times to get him to crown, once for his head, and once for the rest of his body. I won’t go into that that felt like, or sounded like, but it wasn’t fun. The good news? Having him out instead of pushing him out was amazing. The whole thing took just minutes under 4 hours. I didn’t tear or rip or anything! I was exhausted that night, but to hold little Drew in my arms instead of my stomach, was amazing. And the little guy knows how to latch on like a pro!

So we recovered most of the day in the room. Drew was a little blue when he came out due to lack of oxygen, so we had to make sure he stayed warm and a few other things – but after a couple hours he pinked right up and was just fine! We watched our little guy most of the day and spent it talking with my mom and Scot’s Uncle, getting cleaned up, taking a little nap, eating, and in general, just enjoying the time. My dad came to visit and he and Scot went to pick Evan up from a friend’s house before returning to the room for us to all eat together. It was so fun to see Evan with Drew – some very priceless moments. Mom took Evan back to our house and Scot and I finally had some alone time to talk about the day. We both agree that hind sight is 20/20 – if I had just known that lying down would start things along – I would have done that right away!

Drew did great through the night. He is eating about every 3 hours right now, and so I was able to sleep quite a bit last night. I still don’t feel caught up – and I’m sure I won’t for a few weeks – but at least I didn’t have to pull 2 all nighters in a row! Today was very similar to yesterday minus the whole birthing aspect. We just hung out in our room and enjoyed having time with the little guy. Mom and Evan came to ‘visit’ right before lunch and we had fun with that, and then we headed home right after lunch.

In the short little time we’ve had Drew, both Scot and I have experienced the phenomenon that all parents of more than one child will claim – our hearts expanded with the love we feel for him. He is mellow (at the moment) and we are enjoying the differences between the brothers – both in looks and temperament. I never would had put Evan in the ‘high strung’ category (nor do I think I’ll start), but Drew makes Evan look like a little busy body even at this age! Needless to say, we are looking forward to enjoying the uniqueness of each boy as I’m sure they’ll be as different as their hair color and yet as alike as the way their mouths do that little frown thing when they’re upset.

Sorry this was lengthy, but you know me and writing…there’s nothing short about it!

Pictures

Drew Ariel is here!! I'm getting started on writing the 'how it all happened' story, but in the meantime...here are some pictures of Drew from the last few days!!

Short info:

4-7-10
8:28am
7lbs 4oz
19in

Comparison

Considering I didn't think I would make it to Easter Sunday with Drew still inside, I hadn't even thought about what to wear until Saturday night. I ended up wearing the same dress I wore for Easter when I was only 27 weeks pregnant with Evan. It's not a maternity dress, but thanks to the Empire waist and extra fabric in the skirt, it works just fine. I thought the comparison between the two was almost comical!

27 weeks in 2008


40 weeks in 2010

Easter

These are the few pictures taken yesterday before we dashed out the door to Easter brunch. I'm sure I would have made more time if I was feeling not so pregnant, but the vanity in me won out and I was not about to step in front of the camera any more than necessary. The boys, on the other hand, were fair game!





We had a wonderful Easter filled with good fellowship around the brunch table at church, in the actual service, with friends for 'lunch', and with my folks in the evening. Why with my folks? Well, I had contractions (not hard or long ones) about every 5 minutes apart yesterday for 3 hours, so they came up just in case. Well, they slept in their own beds, and I'm blogging, so no, there is no baby that came from those contractions. I have to admit, it is so discouraging and slightly confusing to try and figure out what to do when you think it may be the real deal. I never did this with Evan since I was in the hospital when I started labor and I had all the machines able to track my contractions and nurses on duty to check me and my progression. sigh. This do-it-yourself at home method is a little less conducive to knowing exactly what's going on. So the planner in me is trying to deal with it. Failing mostly, but trying none the less.

Scot is off all this week, and depending what my doctor says when I call him in 34 minutes, I think we may just head to the zoo this morning, get some good walking in, and just try to enjoy the time off as best as possible with only the 3 of us.

Just Some Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the last few days.

We've read lots and lots of books - just taking advantage of the time that we have to actually do this.


We've played at the park. A lot. I figure that in about a week, this will be a nice father/son outing - for now, I'm soaking in the times that I still get to take him!


He loves the slides! This one is fairly high for someone his size, but even when it launches him air-born, he does really well! He gets right back up and does it again.


When Mimi came up earlier this week for a visit, she brought a pinwheel with her and they had great fun watching it spin 'round and 'round.


Scot stayed home yesterday (I was having some contractions and his doc gave him the day off...) and he and Evan had some good 'bonding moments'...


They blew bubbles while I made dinner...


...Evan either wanted to blow the bubbles himself, or hold the bubble stick and have us blow so he could run around chasing them. Either way - he would not give up the stick!


A cute moment this morning after Scot got done taking the 40 week picture. Evan dragged the stool over, and started hugging my belly and giving Drew kisses. It was precious.


On the way home from Castle Rock where I met my folks for some walking at the outlets mall and Chick-fil-a (YUM!), Evan fell asleep with his foot up on the arm rest!

A Solid 40

Thankfully - that's not lbs I'm talking about...although, I won't tell you how many I'm off. I am now officially 40 weeks (as of yesterday), and just like with Evan, Drew is quite content to stay where he is.

40 weeks and ready to pop

I think we're going to take Evan to an Easter Eggstravaganza tomorrow morning, complete with a petting zoo, face painting, and of course, an egg hunt. If there are too many kiddos, I did pull out the plastic eggs and we'll do our own egg hunt here at the house in the little field down the sidewalk. We may do that either way, actually.

Easter, I think, will dawn bright with me still looking like an Easter egg myself, but that's fine. We'll dress Evan in his cute little Easter outfit, I have no idea what I'll wear, but that's thankfully not the point of the day. We'll enjoy good fellowship around yummy ham in the afternoon and even though I'm bummed that some of Scot's vacation time will be spent in the hospital, I'm glad to know that he'll actually be around and available and I won't have to call him away from work. Things could always be worse, right? So right now, we're just patiently waiting. I've finally come to the fact that this baby is just going to come when he's ready (and more importantly when the Lord is ready for him to come!).