What We’ve Been Up To…

We have had lots of visitors for the first month of Avery’s life.  It was great to see family and have the extra help!  Casey and I have adjusted over the past month to being a family of four quite well and finally have a little routine down!  I call Avery my rebel, because he will fight going to sleep with ALL of his being!  We were spoiled with Taylor who LOVED to sleep, this one not so much. He is sleeping for a good 7 hours at night, we just can’t keep him awake past 8:30, so mornings are early!

Taylor has adjusted to being a big brother so well!  He loves to give Avery kisses and help mommy and daddy.  When we are doing anything in the kitchen, he must be right in the action! He runs and gets a dinning room chair to stand on, while screaming “Me help Mommy!” So sweet.  I may not have a girl, but this kid loves to cook!

Here we were making Valentine’s day cookies for Daddy!

As for me, I have began to adjust to being a full time Mommy.  We go to the YMCA everyday, which is a lifesaver.  I don’t think I could handle this weather without the Y.  Taylor loves to go there now and Avery doesn’t seem to mind either.  Taylor screams “This way mommy!” as soon as he sees the water tower.  He also exclaims, “Me stopa cryin.’”  Let’s just say the first trip back to the Y after pregnancy wasn’t stellar.  The staff had to page me out of class since Taylor couldn’t calm down. Last week, he cried that he wasn’t GOING to Kid Stuff.  My how their minds soon forget. 

I must have had some crazy juice, because I have started training for a 10K at the end of April and a Sprint Triathlon in June.  So far, things are going well.  Swimming is a lot harder than I had anticipated, and I am a little nervous about the Open Water, but I figure that is why it is such an adrenaline rush!  If it isn’t hard, then it’s not a challenge!  I was inspired by a friend of a friend who informed me she had completed an Iron Man.  The next day, I created a running club for St. Michael, and signed up for the 10k.  I’m thinking at least a marathon will be in my future…the whole Ironman, probably not, I’ll just get through this Sprint one in June.

I’ll leave ya’ll with some random pictures and I hope this finds everyone well.  We will see some of you in April, when I will be traveling with 2 children on a 3 hour plane flight BY MYSELF.  Prayers are welcomed!

    

   

Until Next Time…

Happy Birthday Avery

Like I said last time, with every birth there is a story…luckily this one is much better than the last. Well, birthing experience anyway, so here it goes…

We woke up at 6 am on the dot, to call the hospital to make sure they had sufficient staff for our induction.  I of course didn’t sleep at all, because I wanted to have Avery the next day, but didn’t want to get my hopes up and it not happen.  We were all cleared, and told to arrive at 7:30. So, I hoped in the shower and did my best to settle my nerves that were coursing through my body.  I just wanted time to pass so quickly! We took a quick picture of our last time as a family of 3, and I kissed my first born “bye bye.”  I started crying, as I shut the door, as he called for me.  Part of me wanted to run back inside and hold onto our sweet only child for just a little longer, but then I remembered this new sweet one we would be meeting in a few short hours.

On the way to the hospital, flashbacks started…the ones that women say they forget…I began to get very nervous about the pain, about having 2 children to raise, about being away from Taylor. How was I going to get through this!?  Then, I looked at my husband who told me everything was going to be okay.  Oh how I love him.

Once we arrived, it was deja vu.  We were admitted into the same room.  We had the same delivery nurse.  My doctor was doing the delivery. I had my pink pillow.  And now it was time for the epidural!    They broke my water at 9 am and started me on the Pitocin.  I asked for the epidural right away, but they wouldn’t give me one until I started to feel contractions, so the waiting game began.  It took a little while for things to get moving, but once they did, Casey knew just what to do and he reassured me every step of the way.  I made sure that I told the anesthesiologist that it did NOT work last time, so he gave me a booster that I could give myself every 20 minutes, in which I was sure to use, exactly every 20 minutes.  The one and only thing that I can even complain about this time is that I went from a 4 to 9 in a matter of 30 minutes. The nurses were shocked!  I’m not sure how many times I had to push, but it was only for about 25 minutes, which compared to last time, was a breeze!  Plus, when your drugs work, awesome!

Since Taylor was a preemie, I wasn’t able to hold him first.  This time, I was able to spend those quality first moments with our new son.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved Taylor’s birth, this one was just more pleasant, and I was able to enjoy the little moments in between.   

After meeting Avery it was the same feeling I had just over 2 years ago.  Pure love.