A little bit white trashy

You may have seen this picture I posted on Facebook. It's a makeshift pool we used one day because it was so hot outside. Jenny had gotten Caiden a pool last year for his birthday, but it was moldy and yucky from being stored all year. I know, we are a little bit trashy.

So last weekend, we made out first outing as a family of 4 with the sole purpose of getting Caiden a new pool.And he LOVES it!

Now, I think we need to upgrade a few other toys. Check out what we are using in this video!

Caleb's Nighttime Noises

This is what keeps us up at night! You won't be able to see anything because it was dark, but turn your volume up! It's pretty annoying because it wakes you up (he sleeps in a bassinet next to our bed) but he is still sleeping and you never know if it's going to lead into a full blown cry!

Our first walk

On Father's Day we took our first walk with the boys in our awesome new DOUBLE stroller! Watch out! here we come!

Caleb-2 weeks old

We took Caleb in for his 2 week check at the pediatrician yesterday and he is doing great! She didn't really talk about percentiles but here are his stats:

-weight: 6lb 13 oz. this is a full pound more than what he weighed when we left the hospital! (and an ounce shy of Caiden's birth weight)

-length: 19.5"

-head: 13.5"

-diapers: newborn

-Clothes: newborn, although they are still pretty big on his scrawny legs

He is sleeping pretty well, some nights he'll only do an 1 1/2 hour stretch of sleeping, but other nights he'll give us 3 hours straight! He's a pretty mellow baby, only cries when he's hungry and sometimes with a dirty diaper. We moved back into the newborn size diapers after switching to preemie for a bit.

Caiden loves Caleb and wants to be near him most of the time. He'll even sit with my Boppy pillow and ask to hold him.

We got newborn photos taken last night so I can't wait to see them! Although he was a little stinker and was awake most of the time even though i was wanting those cute sleepy pics.

All in all I would say we are adjusting "ok". Definitely not the easiest thing in the world, but it could be worse! Eric and I are so blessed to have 2 beautiful boys, supportive families and some terrific friends. I can't say enough how much we appreciate the meals that are being made for us. I have been taking pics of them so I'll eventually post, so you can see all the delicious food!

Father's day 2012

We kept Father's Day pretty low key this year with a newborn at home. We treated Daddy to a breakfast of pancakes and sausage balls and later gave him his present of a card and Otterbox phone cover. Pretty lame, I know, but I wasn't able to do much shopping since Caleb came early!

Caleb's birth story

Welcome to this year's edition of Labor & Delivery: Fast and Furious! You might recall the first episode of this two-part mini series back in April of 2010. If you want to see the re-run, click here. In this year's episode we pick up on Monday, June 4.

After doing my post for 36 weeks, we were starting to get anxious knowing that we probably only had a week or two before this little guy came. We had gotten a lot accomplished that weekend, but still had a few things to get done. We have felt all along that brother would come early, but were hoping to make it to 38 weeks like we did with Caiden.

I hadn't slept very well Monday night, but I thought it was just indigestion, gas or some tummy trouble from my intestines being squished. Then Tuesday morning, June 5, I had what I thought might be "bloody show" (I'm not gonna give details, but if you're curious and daring you can see what it is here). I got a little worried and my OB appointment wasn't scheduled until Thursday so I thought I'd call to see if I could get in that day instead. Luckily I was able to get in to see my docs partner, Dr. Marshall, so at 11am,  I dropped Caiden off at Jamie's house and headed in.

At the docs office, she checked my cervix and I was already dilated to a 4! For many women that could mean nothing and they could go on walking around for weeks. I had a feeling this wasn't the case with me (knowing my labor with Caiden). The doc wanted to see if I was having contractions and since I couldn't tell, she hooked me up to the monitor for about 20 minutes. Turns out I was contracting but not on a regular pattern. She decided to send me home to have some lunch and then wanted me to come back in at 1:30 to see if I'd progressed at all. We went ahead and called my mom to get her on the next flight down.

So I went home and got Caiden from Jamie's house. Eric was bringing home some lunch for us and I got Caiden working on his lunch. I finished packing my hospital bag-just in case- and threw in a load of laundry since I needed to wash the "coming home" outfit for the baby.

Just before Eric made it home, around 12:00, my water broke! This baby was coming! no need to go back to the doc's office to check for progression!  Eric made it home as I was cleaning myself up and he made some final preparations while I ate my Chick-fil-A. I was determined to eat because I knew I wouldn't be able to for awhile in the hospital. Eric took Caiden back over to Jamie's and we headed to the hospital! I had been pretty stressed about what we'd do with Caiden when I went into labor, so we are so thankful that it worked out perfectly to have him stay with Jamie and her family for the rest of the day!

By the time we got to the hospital and settled in around 1:00, I'd started to have some painful contractions. Luckily they were still spread out a little. I was a little bummed because the nurse said that Dr. Marshall (my doc's partner) was on call for delivery so once again my OB wouldn't be able to deliver the baby. I nicely informed the nurse that I went through labor VERY quickly with my first son, so could we please do whatever possible to get the epidural coming. My labor nurse, Michelle, checked me and I was dilated to a 7 so she knew I wasn't kidding. I had gone from a 4 to a 7 in two hours! She was so sweet and put a rush on everything. They got the IV in me and my blood drawn. The blood tech said she'd rush it through for me!

The next hour was the worst of it all- but I know I am very fortunate for it to have only been an hour of intense pain. I think I handled it pretty well this time. I didn't throw up like I did with Caiden and I had some time to rest between contractions.

By 2:00, the bag of IV was in me (as required by the hospital prior to an epidural), my lab results came back and the blessed anesthesiologist was giving me the wonderful epidural.

After the epidural, the nurse checked me again and said I was a 9. She wanted me to rest a bit to let my body prepare before pushing. I liked this idea because we didn't get anytime like this with Caiden's birth and it gave me and Eric a little chance to talk about what was about to happen!

It was probably about 3:30 and Dr. Wood (MY OB!) walked in! I had said "hi" to her in the office that morning so she had pulled me up on the computer when she was leaving the office and saw that I was ready to go, so she came across the street to the hospital!  I was so excited to have her deliver the baby! This is no insult to her partner, I just think it's sad that an OB can care for you and your baby for nine months and miss out on the excitement of the big day.

She suited up and about 3 pushes later at 3:53 pm our little Caleb was here!

Baby brother is here!

We are so thrilled to announce the arrival of Caleb Easton on Tuesday, June 5. He weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces and was 19.4 inches long!

We are so grateful to have received another wonderful blessing in our family!

Stroller Strides Sprinkle

My friends in my Stroller Strides group celebrated the coming of little brother with a "Sprinkling" of gifts! We got lots of the necessities and some cute fun stuff as well!

They were so sweet to remember big brother Caiden too!

And they didn't forget about momma!

Unfortunately, we didn't get a group picture :( .  Many thanks to my workout buddies and mommy friends!

36 weeks (9 months)

How far along? 36 weeks (9 months). If your are scratching your head reading this, don't feel bad. Many people don't know that you are actually pregnant for 10 months or 40 weeks. I will be considered full term next week!

How big is the baby? more than 20" long and should be about 6 lbs

Are you in maternity clothes? all maternity clothes and many that I've borrowed are too small!  I've realized that I have a longer torso than others so even though a top might fit, it is still too short to cover my belly!

How do you feel physically? I feel huge!  My waist is now 39". As of my doctor's appointment last week I've gained 20 pounds so far. (25-35 is the reecommended amount of weight gain). My feet have been swelling a little bit in the evenings but my doc said I win the "best ankles" award :) He is already so low that I've got a lot of pressure on my hips and pelvis. I'm sure I have the pregnancy "waddle" but no one has commented on it yet!

Sleep? I'm getting up about 4 times during the night to go to the bathroom.

Miss anything? Being able to eat without being in pain afterwards. I've had really bad heartburn and indigestion this time around. I've heard that means he'll have lots of hair.  Wonder if that's true??

Feeling movement of the baby? He still gets the hiccups every day.

Food cravings? still ice cream

Gender of the baby? It's a boy! Oh... And we decided on a name, but WE'RE NOT TELLING! :)

Mood? Feeling pretty well prepared, we have gotten almost everything done. I've ordered some nursing pajamas and little brother's monogrammed outfit that haven't come in yet, so I'm hoping they make it in time.