Our weekend with Steve and Yi

It was a great weekend to have visitors. Braden loved playing with both Steve and Yi. On Saturday Mel came out along with our friends Cindy and Peter. Braden was just in heaven that night. He had his daddy, Peter, and Uncle Steve. We all went to dinner together. It was great to get out for a while. Reese slept the entire time and Braden was pretty good. We went to the park on Sunday where Braden had a great time throwing the football around with Steve and Brian.

Steve, Braden and Yi. I am not sure what they are looking at.

Braden is running with Steve and Brian.

Braden and Steve.

Steve, Yi and both munchkins!

Yi and Reese. (Reese is yawning)

Stay at home mom....

Well, that is a description of myself I am still getting used to. (I don't think I have used it yet to describe what I do). When people ask what I do, I usually say that I just had a baby (which is true) and that I am taking some time off of work (also true). I just never thought of my self as a stay at home mom. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying this time at home. Braden and I read lots of books, go for walks, go to the park, cook together (one of his favorites) and I am not as stressed as I used to be. I also love the amount of time I am able to spend with Reese. Nursing her has been easier and there isn't all the stress of building a milk supply for my return to work. I feel fortunate to have been able to make this choice for myself.

Things are also going better since our lives are getting a little less hectic lately. Brian has finished up some time consuming work for his graduate program and Reese is sleeping really well. It is amazing what a little sleep will do for you! She is only waking up once at night. Typically she will nurse between 8 and 9 and sleeps until 5 or 6 in the morning, with one nursing period in the middle of the night! She is doing great! It has made such a difference in my energy level. I have been taking them for walks and runs lately with a great double running stroller. Both Braden and Reese seem to enjoy themselves. I can't wait to lose all the baby weight.

Braden is also doing well. He is talking from the moment he rises until he goes to sleep. He just has so much to say. I have been taking him to they library for different events and he loves it. A women played her guitar and sang songs with the toddlers. They danced and sang, if they were big enough. She also had a drum that Braden could not get enough of. She let the kids take turns drumming but Braden wanted to drum the whole time. As she walked around the room somehow Braden found his way to the front of the crowd where he could get his hand back on that drum. When she sat back down to drum by herself and finish the song, Braden joined her. He was up in the front of the room drumming away! I had to get him to sit down and let the lady finish. She didn't seem to mind too much. Braden is also doing great with Reese. He is patient, for the most part, and is becoming more independent. He really loves his sister. He brings her "blankies" and all sorts of stuff. He gives her kisses and loves to help with her baths.

I don't have any pictures to post. It just don't have the camera as handy anymore. I will be snapping some shots this weekend since my brother and his girlfriend are coming to visit. My brother is in for a treat. I am sure we will be hearing, "Uncle Steve, Uncle Steve" over and over again!

Hair!

I am officially all healed. I had my 6-week check-up and I am doing fine. I brought both munchkins to my appointment and they did well. Reese slept and Braden was good. Everyone at the office loves Braden. They especially love his hair. Most people love his hair and I hear about it frequently.

Comments I hear are:


"look at those curls!"
"Hi curly",
"what great blond hair"

This is the most recent comment I received after a women took a look at Braden:

"Wow, you sure are BLESSED"


They all put a smile on my face. Now that Reese is here, her hair is getting some rave reviews also.

The comments about her are:



"Wow, look at all that hair"
"It sticks straight up"


When I give her a bath, her hair is very fluffy.







I tried to get some pictures of the two of them. This is the best I could do~

Relaxing on the weekend

We are able to relax and spend time together on the weekends. Braden likes to make sure we are all together. He likes when we are all in the same room, even if we are all not playing together. It has been a beautiful weekend so far. The sun is out and it is only 70 degrees! What a treat!





Reese stayed awake long enough for me to take some pictures of her.

This picture shows off her blue eyes. You may have to enlarge the picture.











You can see her spike here!

Braden had fun playing in the basket with all of this animals this morning. He also had fun finding Brian.

Reese is 1 month old!

Today Reese is one month old and she is doing wonderfully! The weather is going to cool down (80's) this week so I should be able to get out a little more with Reese. It has just been too warm to take her outside for too long. There is a great park not too far from our house where we go. Braden likes the "kids" that come to play there. We did go last week and he followed a 3 year old girl around the whole time. It was really cute!

This week Braden begins attending Terrific Tots again. It is a "gym" class for 1-2 year olds. He loves it. Brian and I were talking about it at dinner last night and Braden had a big smile on his face as he said, "Terrific Tots.....Kids". He loves playing with other kids and I am sure he misses Bella and Gabby. We are also going to start going to the library this week for Story time. I haven't tried the library yet so hopefully Braden will enjoy it. As long as there are "kids" he will be happy!

Short and Sweet

Everyone is doing well here. Both sets of grandparents have now met our new addition. We still have to introduce her to some of her uncles and aunts, but that will happen soon.





I don't have too much to say this time, so enjoy the pictures!



Braden holding Reese.

Reese

Braden's new sun glasses.

My sun glasses.

Update

We are all doing well here. We are all tired, except Braden, he sleeps great! Reese is up every 3 hours or so and sometimes she stretches a bit at night, but she is going through a growth spurt so every 2 hours she calls for me. I took her to the doctor yesterday for her 2 week appointment and she is doing just fine. She is just over 9 lbs. now and is getting stronger every day. She still is very sleepy, but is now waking up to eat on her own.

I am tired. I just wish Braden would sleep in, but I have been saying that ever since he slept through the night. His internal clock goes off at 6 am. It doesn't matter what time he goes to bed, 6 am is it! He usually comes into my room in the morning and says, "breakfast" and I put him back in his bed for another 20 minutes or so. I then try and muster up the energy to start the day.

I am very thankful for coffee!

Sleepy girl...

Things are going really well here. Brian is back to work full time and Reese is just sweet as can be. Braden is making the adjustment well. Reese sleeps all the time. I have had to wake her up almost every time she needs to eat! She is nursing well and staying awake for a little longer. I am healing well and feel ready to get out for a walk. Some exercise would be nice.


Braden got a new seat to put on the back of our bikes so we can go for a bike ride together. He just loved it!

This is Reese, doing her thing...sleeping!

It's a girl! Reese Elizabeth

Reese Elizabeth was born August 10 at 6:18 pm. She was 7lbs 9.6 oz and 19 inches long.

The story:

I went in for a routine check up and the doctor discovered that I was 4-5 cm dilated, 90% effaced and the baby was low. She stripped my membranes and said she was going to directly admit me to the hospital. When she said, "you are going to have this baby today", I almost kissed her! She told me to go along with her story that I was contracting every 5 minutes, which I was not....but I told her I would say anything to get this baby out! Her plan was that when I was admitted they would break my water and get me going. I thought it was a great plan. I called Brian at work and told him to meet me at the hospital. A friend of ours came over and took care of Braden for the day and we were off.

I could not have asked for an easier delivery. I was checked in and given an IV. After that they asked me if I was planning on having and epidural, after my big YES they decided to give it to me before they broke my water or gave me pitocin. This means I had a pain free labor. After a few hours, they checked me and I was 8cm. The doctor said she would be back in an hour to check again and that I would probably be ready to push at the time. Well, I knew it was going to happen a little sooner. I could feel that baby ready to come out! The nurse came in after we called for her, she went and got the doctor and I started to push. 15 minutes later, she was born. It was a girl.....I knew it! The doctor and nurse were both excited to find out since they said that it was rare to have a couple wait to find out the sex of the baby.

Brian brought Braden on Saturday to visit and he wanted to hug and kiss his new sister!

We are home now and she is thriving. She only lost 5 oz at the hospital and is nursing well! We have lots of help so I am able to get some sleep when I need it.

Brian and I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and good thoughts. We appreciate all the phone calls, texts, emails and visits.

Picture Post

Pictures....







Eating yogurt outside.





















Braden and his tricycle.

Getting ready to go swimming with his friends, Carolyn and Emily.

Big smile



















Me, ENORMOUS! (38 weeks)

17 days and counting

We are doing well here. Braden is doing well considering we are pretty much confined to the house in this heat. We have had some visitors, which was nice. Braden and I were saying good-bye to one of my friends that came over on Tuesday and for a moment, we were able to feel how hot it was outside. After she left I asked Braden if he wanted to go outside in the pool. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "no-no". We did get in the pool after my OB appointment yesterday. It is the only way to be outside. Braden is talking well and my favorite word that he says is banana. It is more like, "boonana". I love it!

I am now 2 cm dilated. The baby is still low and I am still around 70% effaced. The doctor says I am not able to get any bigger. My uterus is maxed out. Brian was surprised when I told him that because he thinks I was much bigger with Braden. I gained more fluids with Braden than with this one. I am just not experiencing the same amount of swelling.

I am trying to be patient, but it is hard. The baby is moving well and the heart rate is still around 140. Many of the people that I talk to are surprised when I tell them that we don't know if it is a boy or a girl. I am anxious to find out.

I know there haven't been any pictures to accompany the last posts, but we haven't been taking many. I will try and get some up this weekend!

Waiting for the new baby

I am a little anxious waiting for this baby. I had Braden in less than 7 hours and I was concerned that this baby would come even faster. My doctor has reassured me that I should have enough time to get to the hospital and get an epidural even though Braden came quickly. (I loved having an epidural the first time, and I am not interested in going through labor with out it.)

I am uncomfortable and the weather is taking it's toll on me. I should have an exam at my appointment this week and then I will know better the progress that my body is making. I have my bag and Braden's bag packed. I hope that we will have news soon.

4th Wedding Anniversary

On our honeymoon.

In Las Vegas!

Two new, proud, house-owners.




















In New York for Valentine's Day.

We have been married for 4 years as of today! We had such a beautiful wedding day and these past 4 years have treated us very well. We are going to dinner tonight down in Baltimore.

The pictures are dedicated to Brian and I this time. Braden gets enough air-time! (By doing this, I realized that Brian and I don't take enough pictures together anymore. I am going to work on that!)

Hair-cut

I finally took Braden to get his hair cut on Tuesday. He did great. No screaming and he only cried for a minute in the beginning. He looks so cute with his hair short but all the curls are gone :( I know they will grow back quickly.

I also had my 35 week appointment today. It looks like the baby's head is very low and I am 70% effaced, which means my cervix is almost 100% thinned out. I am not dilated, and was surprised by that news. The doctor expects that I will have this baby early based on how thin my cervix is. She wants me to lift Braden as little as possible, and I will do my best, but that is not easy. She also said that many times a baby born at 36 or 37 weeks is usually big enough to go home with the mom. I guess we are going to get the infant stuff out of the attic this weekend, just to be safe. I am back at the office every week now.

The bathroom is finished!

I have been away from the computer for a little while. We had some visitors and Brian has been finishing up the bathroom, so I have been very busy. Brian has finished the bathroom! It looks great! Every time I am in there, I can't believe it is our bathroom. The last finishing touch is a mirror and after it goes up, I will take some pictures to post.


We also had two visitors this past week. My friend Kate and her son Joshua stayed with us from Tuesday to Friday! It was so nice to visit and meet her little boy. He is 3 months old and is such a laid back little baby. He just played and talked to us. Braden liked having a baby around. He just keep saying "baby" and pointing to Joshua.


Braden is talking up a storm! He is saying everything that we say! I just can't believe my ears sometimes. Every morning we wake up to a little voice saying "mama" over and over again until I go and get him. He is also counting from 2-6. (he skips 1 for some reason) Reading is his favorite past-time. He wants to read every book we have. When we put him to bed we usually have to go back up after 20 or 30 minutes to remove all the books from his bed and tell him to lay down. He just says, "read book". It is really cute.

A few last pieces of information......

1) Tomorrow Brian will start his new job. We are both really excited. This is really a great opportunity for him.

2) I have been feeling pretty good. I have some days were I am very uncomfortable and others are just fine. I am having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions (the ones that don't hurt) and some cervical pains, but that is all normal.


Here are some pictures of Braden and Joshua. There are also pictures of Braden playing with Brian in the pool. Braden loves to splash around, especially with his dada.

It is HOT!

It was 98 yesterday and its going to feel like it is 100+ degrees today! HOT, HOT, HOT! I am not venturing too far outside. Just into the pool and back.

Brian is still working on the bathroom, but it is starting to come together! There have been a few bumps, and many trips to Lowe's, but he is the home stretch!

I had a my 33 week appointment last Thursday and everything is fine. I go back in 2 weeks for an exam to see if I have started dilating. After that I go to the doctor every week until the baby comes! I am very excited. I am a little nervous about all the stuff you can't control, but for the most part I am excited. I held a 2 week old yesterday and I can't wait to hold my own!

Here are some pictures of Braden from this morning. I kept telling him to smile....but this is what I got! By the way, I think we are going to get his hair cut today, after his nap, of course. He screams enough as it is, I am not going to make it worse by taking him while he is tired!

Almost Done!

I am very very close to completing my summer graduate class. I can't wait! I am hoping to be all finished tomorrow. The final paper, that I have developed as a result of the class is about 30 pages. I am happy with it.



It feels like I updated this blog so long ago, but it has been about one week, that's not so bad! In the past week we had new carpet installed in our basement. It is so nice! I didn't realize how terrible the other stuff was until we had the new stuff. Also, Brian has started to tear out our bathroom. I took my last shower in our house today. I have some friends lined up for Braden and I. I guess Brian is going to use the hose! I am going to hang out for the next few days with some friends while Brian works on the bathroom. The only thing that will stay the same is the toilet! I can't wait to see the end result. I usually help with the home-improvements. I can be a bit handy, but this time I haven't been able to help much.



Here are some new pictures, I know that is what most of you have been waiting for!



















Braden needs a hair-cut, if you can't tell!

















So cute!

OK, this is Braden and I opening up his new toy, an Elmo tool bench in the midst of all the bathroom stuff. He loves it!




















Braden is very good with a spoon. This breakfast. He is not shy about asking for "more"

I leave you with some video of Braden...I know everyone will enjoy this!