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.

 

Taylor Turns 2!

I know I have slacked on several things, but I am going to be sure that this is one tradition I always remember! It is great to be able to look back on last year’s and see how much Taylor has grown.  The hilarious things that come out of his mouth, and all of the things that he adores. So, here is a glimpse of a few of Taylor’s favorite things…

And just for fun, a glimpse down memory lane…

We hope that everyone is doing well!  We are just cherishing that last couple of days that we are simply a family of three!  As long as there are openings at the hospital next Wednesday, we will be welcoming a sweet new baby boy into our family.  (But he can always make his presence a little sooner!)

Oh Christmas Tree…

A couple weeks ago, we went on our new annual tradition of cutting our own Christmas Tree.  This is a tradition, that I will be very sad to leave behind when we eventually make our way back to the south.  Until then, I will cherish the cold, looking for our perfect tree to bring home. 

I loved that there was still a little snow on the trees.  It had been warmer the past couple of days, and the only snow we have had was the storm on Thanksgiving!

Taylor was a little more excited this year, but not much.  It was a little cold that day, and his gloves didn’t quite fit right.  We went to the same farm we went to last year, but this time Taylor made it very clear he was not going to sit on the pony.

Helping daddy choose our perfect tree.

“Hey dad!  I found one.”  Ha, not really, this is when his little fingers were getting cold…

Our tree.  It isn’t as great as last year, but still our perfect tree.  Since the weather was so dry this summer, there weren’t very many great trees to choose from.  Taylor had a blast decorating it, and it was a fabulous sight to see him choose ornaments and place them on the tree, even if it was the same tree branch. 

I love this last picture of Taylor, his big blue eyes just staring back at me!  Love this sweet man, and can’t believe he will be two in little over a week!!  Hope this finds everyone well and enjoying the season as we prepare to become a family of FOUR!  CRAZY!

Minnesota Fall

To say it has been awhile is an understatement!  I can’t believe how long it has been since I just sat down to write what has been going on in our lives.  Trying to keep an almost 2 year old occupied seems to drain all of my energy.  We have kept ourselves busy by going to the park often and participating in some of our favorite fall activities!  Taylor is growing up so fast!  He surprises us everyday with his developing vocabulary and new habits.  In an attempt to catch up on photos, here is are some of our favorites over the past couple of months.

Golfing in early summer, it sure was windy!

The Warrior Dash – Year 2

The Minnesota State Fair – Taylor loved the animals, especially the “moos".”

Enjoyed a visit from Pops.

Family picture with his road rash on his face from diving into the street.

Learning how to use the camera in Michigan. I don’t think we could have laughed harder as he repeated, “Cheese!”

We were finally able to get to the pumpkin patch!  Taylor loved the bounce house pumpkin, but was not too fond of the corn pit.  We went on a hay ride, that stalled a couple of times, but still had a blast with some friends!

Finally, we participated in our yearly tradition of watching daddy run the Twin Cities Marathon!  I was sad that I wasn’t running this year, but I’m looking forward to next year!  It was a beautiful fall day!  A little chilly in the morning, but Taylor and I dressed for it and was able to see daddy three times on the course!  He looked great every time! Plus, he was much faster this year, so we missed him at the finish line!  I felt bad about that, but he liked us meeting him three times during the course instead of seeing him finish.

Taylor loved watching the wheelers go by at mile 5.  He clapped and cheered for them, what a sweet boy!

Looking carefully for daddy.

Mile 21 and still seems to be happy!

We are so proud of you Casey! We love you!

Set Him Free

Casey and I have been very anxious for Taylor to begin feeding himself.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to sit down and spend some quality time with my little man spooning “oh so goodness” into his mouth, sometimes there are just other things I could be doing.  Like cleaning his “oh so goodness” mess from the night before!  After being slightly OCD about him not getting it on his clothes (Picture: Taylor wrapped in a giant plastic bag, with a plastic drop cloth underneath his high chair as well as on the walls. Then I thought that was too much work, that’s why we have dogs!!) So, I did what any sane parent would do, stripped him down and set him free!  It was such a sight to see.  As Casey and I cheered him on while he ate about half of the yogurt, he just smiled.  Here’s to my little man growing up…

And just because he’s so cute, here’s one from the wedding!