4th of July

 We kept 4th of July low key this year.  We have to keep these little ones on a routine or every thing gets screwed up.  Callie loved doing the smoke bombs during the day and loved the sparklers in the evening.  I love seeing the holidays through the eyes of a child. They are excited about everything.

Carter 5 Months

 This little boy is growing fast.  He is wearing size 3 diapers and can wear 6-9 month clothes.  He looks so cute in his little suit.  He is still loving food and is up to 3 meals a day.  You can see by his little man boobs and all the rolls.  He is my little rolly polly.  He doesn't have much hair, but we did give him a hair cut to trim up the little rat tail growing in the back.

Carter 4 Months

 Carter wasn't showing much interest in food and we were going to wait to start feeding him.  Then overnight, he became very interested in everything we were eating and drinking.  We started him on rice cereal and he didn't like it at all.  We had always mixed Callie's cereal with formula, but he didn't want any of that.  We then tried it with breast milk and he loved it.  He loved most of his veggies, but absolutely hated green beans and peas.  He isn't a huge fan of bananas and will only eat them if they are mixed with other fruits.  He also had another first this month.  He had his first big bath. He loved being able to splash and play with his sissy.  He is following in his sister's footstep and is a water baby.  He would stay in there for hours if we let him.

Carter 3 months

 This little boy is growing way too fast.  He is always smiling and it is from ear to ear.  We thought having two kids would be harder than having one, but it is just different.  Callie loves her little brother and he entertains her.  Life is kind of easier.  I couldn't imagine life without both of these wonderful kiddos. 

Carter 2 months

 I'm doing a little back posting of Carter.  Here are some of the pictures of him at 2 months.  He is such a cute baby.  I love his chunky little legs and his smiley personality.  I think he has been smiling since birth.  He not only smiles with his mouth, but his whole face. 

The Birth Story

 On Sunday I had a feeling that the baby was going to be coming in the next couple days with losing my MP and having mild cramping.  Everyone tells you that you will know what a contraction will feel like when it happens.  People were telling me that I was having contractions, but I wasn't in much pain and I couldn't time them.  There wasn't a start and an end to them because the cramping was constant.

I wanted to get the show on the road, so Tuesday we decided to try some of the old wise tails (Mexican food, long walk, etc).  That night about 11:30pm my water broke.  I heard a pop and thought, was that my water or did I just pee the bed a little.  I got up and there wasn't much fluid, but the contractions began.  I now knew these were contractions but I still wasn't able to time them because they were back to back.   Most people say after their water breaks that they have time to get ready for the hospital like take a shower, pack the rest of the bag (camera, makeup, etc), but that wasn't us.  My contractions were strong and fast.  There was no resting and catching my breath between them.  As soon as one stopped, the next one started.  While waiting for Aunt Mandy to come over to watch Callie I was on all fours breathing through each contraction.  We decided to get in the car before Aunt Mandy showed up so we could be ready to go.  Just walking out to the car I had 2 full contractions.  We left as soon as we knew Mandy was in the subdivision. 

 I had planned on giving birth at the down town St. Lukes (that is where my dr. is) but because I was unsure if we were going to make it, we stopped at the Meridian St. Lukes.  Loren pulled up to the ER and they quickly got me in a wheelchair and up to the third floor for check in.  They checked me in at 12:02 so wouldn't have to pay for the additional night (they are awesome).  They got me in my room. The nurse quickly checked me to make sure the baby wasn't coming right then and then got me in the bed. They attempted to get IV line in but had the hardest time doing it and had to end up switching arms and nurses.

They were still taking in all my information because the systems are in the process of being linked, but are not yet.  They got my antibiotic drip going and had to wait to get the orders for the epidural.  All I wanted was that epidural.  I asked everyone that walked into the room if they were the anesthesiologist.  I finally got the epidural at 2am.  My body was in such shock that it was shaking during each contraction even after the epidural my body would continue to shake with each contraction. By this time I was up to a 6 or 7.  They got me hooked up to all the machines to monitor the baby and me and the nurse did say that the contractions were coming very quickly. They also put me on oxygen to help the baby. 

The nurse told me to relax and try to get some rest and to tell her when I felt pressure and needed to push.  Well the only pressure I felt was in my tailbone. I called her back in around 3 and told her about the pressure and she measured me again.  I was at a 9.  She told me that we had to wait a little longer to see if I could get up to a 10.  Thirty minutes later I called her back in because the pressure was actually hurting my tailbone.  She told me that we could try doing some practice pushing and she would try to move the babies head up off my tailbone.  We did 30 minutes of pushing, then the doctor came in turned on the bright lights and told me to push for real now.  It took about 15 minutes pushing with the Doctor and Carter joined our family at 4:15am on Wednesday April 17th, 2013.
Carter weighed in at 8lbs 14oz and was 21 inches long. Even though the contractions hurt, this birth was so much easier than Callie's 17 hour labor with 2.5 hours of pushing.  We were so excited to welcome this little bean into our lives and start living as a family of four.

Baby News

There isn't much news yet...because he is enjoying where he is right now.  I'm dilated to a 3 and effaced to 30% as of last Friday.  I'm sure it is farther along today, but there is no way of telling.  Sunday night I lost my MP and have been having contractions here and there.  I've been getting things together to make sure we are ready for the hospital (sitters, bags, house cleaned, etc).

I took a long walk last night with the dog to try and get things going, but all I got out of it were some painful Braxton hicks all night long.  I know he isn't due until the 25th, but I'm so ready for him to be here.  I'm tired of having all the pain (cramping and contractions) that started at 20 weeks that I didn't experience with Callie.  I am glad that he is staying in there until he is ready, and hopefully won't have any issues when he is born.  I'm just a little too impatient.

As for the name...I think we have one picked out for him, but I think we will wait until he is here to make sure it fits him.  We would hate to announce it and then change our minds.  Sorry.

Funny things

Callie amazes us every day...so I thought I would jot down a few things that have happened this past week. 

1 - Callie did math with out prompting.  Loren had given her 2 gummy worms and gotten 2 for himself.  She told him that she didn't want 2, but that she wanted 3.  She suggested that he give her 1 of his so she could have 3 and that he would only have 1.  Maybe she should already be at this stage, but it amazed us that she knew how all that worked even when we haven't worked on it with her.

2 - Last night we were playing Candy Land as a family and she was helping Aunt Cossette pick her cards.  Callie was doing good by always taking from the top of the pile, then all of a sudden she gave Aunt Cossette a card from the bottom.  We were all a little confused, until she pulled the top card for herself and it was the fairy princess and she got to move herself to the finish.  Little cheater!  She has never played this game until now, but we were all a little shocked that she even knew how to cheat.  It made us all laugh.

3 - We were out for a walk this last week and Callie saw some bugs flying around.  Instead of saying shew bug, she kept saying "shoot bug".  Maybe Loren is prepping her for hunting season.

4 - Last month the cat was being naughty and Callie said "Damn Cat".  Loren and I just looked at each other in shock.  We couldn't help but laugh.  This is an oops on our part.  I guess we must watch we say around her nowadays.

Callie's 3rd Birthday Party

Callie's birthday was on the 17th of this Month, so we decided to throw her a little birthday party on Saturday with all her little friends.  Callie loves having her toe nails painted and wearing flip flops, so we decided to do that for her party.  I had some young women from church come over to help paint toes.  The girls got to soak their feet, choose their own colors and stickers, and get their toes done. 

Then each girl got a pair of white flip flops and were allowed to decorate them however they wanted to.  They got to color them with permanent marker and then add fabric ties and jewels.  The jewels didn't hold that well with the hot glue, but lesson learned.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream and presents.  It was so cute seeing Callie surrounded by her friends and opening her gifts.  She was blessed with so many wonderful gifts and has been playing with all of them since Saturday.

 Then it was time to go outside and blow bubbles.  What little girl doesn't love bubbles?

 

Happy Birthday Callie!  I can't believe that you have been in our life for 3 years now, but we couldn't imagine it any other way.

Mud Pies

On Monday, Callie laid down on the couch to watch a show and hopefully take a nap.  I went in to work on a few work projects and the next thing I know Callie is in the back yard digging in the dirt and adding it to Bowser's water dish.  I opened the window to listen to what she was saying and she was talking to herself about the mud pie.  Then all of a sudden she would lift the bowl up and smell it and say yuck and then continue to work on it.  After she got it to the consistency she wanted, she tried feeding it to Bowser.  I kept hearing her tell Bowser to open his mouth and eat his dinner and that he is really going to like it.  I love that she is at the stage where she can pretend and play by herself.  I remember doing this as a child too, so hopefully she will have good memories of getting dirty and playing in the dirt.

Baby Room

 We finally pulled down all the baby stuff from the attic and the babies room is all ready.  I added some pictures above the crib that weren't in the room when Callie was in there.  I had found this cool book with all different animals and got some cheap frames from Goodwill and painted them.  They turned out pretty neat and go with the room perfectly. 

 I got a lot of hand me down baby boy clothes, this is just 6-9 month shirts and onsies. They are all washed and ready to be used when the time comes.

 His friends awaiting his arrival.

 Even the drawers are organized. 

 Car seat, diaper bag, and baby blanket are ready to go.  We are getting pretty excited to meet this little guy.

The purple room

   Callie's new room is turning out great. I'm very excited to have her bed done and her curtains made.  I love how the curtains came out with the big bold stripes.  I still want to add some homemade art work to the walls, but for the most part we are done. The cat even likes looking out the window into the front yard.  At first Callie was having a hard time sleeping through the night and taking a long nap for mommy, but things are getting better.  Lets just hope everything is good before the baby comes. Callie is very excited whenever someone comes over to show them her purple room.

    The babies room is coming right along too.  We've got the crib set up and all the decorations up, but we are missing a few things that are in the attic.  That will have to wait until dad comes home to get down and set up.  I do have all the boy clothes up to 2T washed and put away in drawers or hung up.  I'm now working on the hospital bag to be extra prepared (I know I still have a couple of months left, but why not get ready when you have the energy to do so).