A Birthday Weekend

We did it!  We traveled clear across the state to Cleveland with two children!  I remember mentioning to Daddy, while I was still pregnant, that I wanted to spend my birthday with them and he thought we were crazy to consider it because Patrick would be so tiny.  But we figured it couldn't be that hard, afterall, we had survived traveling with William as an infant, and he was a terrible traveler!  How bad could it be?! ha!  We did have to stop once both ways, to feed the baby, and the passenger made numerous turn arounds to fetch juice, cars, and pacis, but on the whole, I would consider it a major success in Parenting 200.

Patrick's first bath

In other news - I am now 29.  One more year until I will be in my thirties and I am way excited.  I'm tired of being in my twenties.  I'm ready to embrace a new decade, one that will not involve memories of acting a fool 6 out of 7 nights a week like in my early twenties, and not necessarily proud of every single one of them....  Ha!  Though - it WAS fun times.....  And my twenties gave me my sweet husband and two wonderful boys...but still...I acted a serious fool.  :)   So, even though everyone I know thinks I should be dreading and stalling the next year - I can't wait.  My thirties are going to be great.

Sitting happy with Mima

The weekend in Cleveland started Wednesday night.  I busted it all week to make sure the house was totally clean so we didn't come home to a dirty house (ick) and I packed the boys, myself, and threw Sam's stuff in a bag.  I had pizza ready when Sam came home, he packed the car, , and we were off to Cleveland before 6pm.  Patrick blew out his diaper and then decided he was hungry an hour later, so we stopped at McDonalds so atleast William could burn some energy during the detour.  He then also pooped his pants, so it's a good thing we were stopped awhile.  We made it to Cleveland just before 930 I think.  William was beat and went right to bed.  Patrick woke up again and we watched the second half of Modern Family and the first half of Revenge (which looks awesome btw).   Good times.

William is surprisingly good at chasing the ball and kicking it

Unfortunately, something about traveling or the bassinet really pissed off Patrick and he was up every two hours that night.  We got naps the next day though, so all was good, and there were blueberry muffins from Costco to make it better as well.  I heart those muffins.  I could probably survive on those muffins alone.  I think the weather was a little wet, so we mostly played inside and watched movies on the big screen.  William loved it of course.  When Daddy and Sara got home from the doctor - it was pizza night - they moved it since my birthday dinner was Friday and we can't miss pizza.  Meredith and Kalin came from dinner, and it was super fun.  William ate SEVERAL slices - so proud.  :)

He chased a golf ball under the pitch back

Friday I took two naps since it was my birthday.  I think Sam went fly fishing.  Patrick ate slept pooped and William watched movies and played outside.  My Dad is super awesome and spent all afternoon making me roulagen for dinner (cube steak with bacon, mustard, horseradish, and onions) - absolutely delish - he's the best.  And then I had two pieces of cheesecake Sara had made for the occasion.  Super awesome again.  It was a great lowkey birthday.  I stayed in shorts and a tshirt all day.

Birthday kisses and cheesecake

 

Saturday we went to the Creamery to get super fresh chocolate milk and to see dairy cows.  Unfortunately, William was in a super awful mood and didn't enjoy anything but playing with the miniature barn, and screamed when we had to tear him away from it.  Patrick slept through the whole thing.  I'm fairly certain that after that it was more of the same.  William played outside and watched movies, Sam fly fished, I took a nap, and Patrick ate slept pooped.  In the afternoon Grandmother and Aunt Karen and Uncle Tim came to meet the baby.  Tim had brought a remote control airplane that could take off/land in the water - William thought it was the greatest thing ever.  We don't see them often, usually just holidays, so it was nice to spend some time.  All in all, it was a great relaxing weekend.  And we only went to Wal Mart once - which might be a new record for us.  OH!  I did go get a pedicure with my sister.  My feet were ugly, but after a sugar scrub and a serious razor session, they are pretty again.  Maybe next time I won't go 2 years in between... ha!  And Georgia won the football game! yay!!

Playing the piano at Omi's

Sunday morning we went to Mom's for breakfast and playtime.  Yum Yum French Toast.  William had a big time playing on the hill and was in heaven with the balance beam.  The kid loves to walk on the edge of anything - so funny - so this was right up his alley.  It's going to be fun to see him play with on the hill just like we did when we were kids.  My dad built it all over 20 years ago and it's still just as fun.  Though the treehouse seems a bit smaller than I remember.... ha!  In true William form he let us know when he was ready for a nap by being obstinate and down right ugly, so we left to put him down and pack everything up.  We were leaving after naptime this time around so we could be home by dinner time and give Sam some time to relax before going to work Monday morning.

Walking the balance beam with KK

The drive home was about like the drive up.  We had to stop at McDonalds to feed the baby and change diapers.  The only difference was that William was awake the entire time and he kept dropping his juice.  I made Sam ride passenger this time, because I was so tired of turning around every 17 seconds to pick up something on the way up.  He didn't enjoy it too much but I think he might appreciate the seat a little more now.  :)

Pretending to go night night

So it was a wonderful birthday weekend.

My two beautiful boys.

Loves.

Catching it Up

*  William gallops when he's really excited.  And takes a running start to jump with both feet.

*  Patrick is a super chill baby.  He is pretty much the polar opposite of his brother.  Happy and relaxed when he's awake.  Only cries when he's hungry or in the early evening, which we have discovered is his "fussy time".  Atleast William made me learn patience....

*  Patrick is the only person in the world that gets real kisses from William.  Everyone else gets his forehead to kiss.  Sweet brothers.

*  William must say Night Night to the baby before he will go to bed.

* We have successfully given William chores.  He is responsible for helping put the placemats on and off the table, putting his clothes in the hamper, and picking up his toys from around the house. (technically he's been doing the last two for awhile, but they still count)  And the best part - he usually ENJOYS it - especially the placemats.  We even got him to put them away at B&B's.

*  The 4:30 - 5:30am wake up calls have finally stopped.  William is sleeping until atleast 6:30 now.  Unfortunately for us, we are up all night anyway.

*  Sam went back to work on Monday.  Patrick and I went to the pediatrician and ran errands all morning.  He was a pretty good companion.  Only had to nurse in the car one and a half times.

*  Patrick has gained 1 lb 2 oz since he left the hospital - so he weighs in at a wonderfully chubby 9 lbs 10 oz.  I am so relieved that he is getting enough to eat - especially since he only eats from me - BFing brings on a whole new level of stress to motherhood - but I've got a whole separate post in me for THAT topic.

*  William now LOVES to have his picture taken (most of the time) and hams it up big time.  He even told me yesterday that it was HIS turn.

*  We decided to be awesome parents and got William the KoKo train from Chugginton ("choo choo").  She is almost up to Hilbert's status - he carried her around all weekend.  Even took her to bed.

*  Patrick is pretty much on a 2.5 - 3 hour schedule.  Fairly manageable and he still sleeps like a champ.  We'll take it.

*  The pediatrician said Patrick was acting more like a One Month old baby.  He's "mature" for his age.

*  Patrick kinda smirks sometimes.  He's going to be a flirt just like his brother.

*  William's new words - "police car" "again" "Hilbert" "elephant" "dog food"  Almost daily he pulls a new one - it's so much fun and a little shocking every time he uses one we haven't heard before.  Gotta love his school and his new & improved teachers!

*  Patrick has had his first real bath in the sink and he only cried when there wasn't any water being squirted on him.  I guess taking a bath without water really wouldn't be any fun and I would cry about it too.  And then after he was bathed and clean - he promptly pooped in the monkey hooded towel.  Yay.....only a boy.........

*  I turn 29 on Friday.  I'm pretty excited.  Mostly because my Dad is making roulagen (sp) and my Stepmom is making cheesecake.  They must really love me.  :)

*  I'm very frustrated at how difficult it has been to take a really great picture of Patrick.  My heart hurts that there isn't a single "perfect" newborn picture of him.  I'm trying to be rational and be ok with having a perfect picture of him 2 weeks old but I'm not really succeeding.  I'm also upset that the pictures of him in the monkey towel are not as good as the one of William in the monkey towel.

I think that about mostly catches it up.  Let's hope so atleast....

Loves!

I You Baby

Ok - to pick it back up kinda where I left off.

When I finally get rolled back to the mommy side of the fourth floor all our family was waiting in the hallway (our room was REALLY close to the nursery).  My only thing was that before anyone came in the room or got to hold the baby - I was going to breastfeed.  Period.  Probably a good thing that we prepared the 'rents for that one.  I am slightly convinced that one of the reasons that William never BF'd was because we didn't get to try soon enough - so that was a TOP priority.  And from what I can remember, I think he came out of the womb knowing exactly what to do. I'm not sure he ate a whole lot, but we did establish that he could successfully latch.  Thank goodness.

A little blurry but absolutely perfect.  All of my favorites.

Next up, before all the family, was that the four of us were going to have a little alone time to let William meet the baby without being extremely over stimulated.  It was wonderful.  He is such a sweet sweet soul.  We barely had to remind him about sweet touches and all he wanted to do was hug and kiss the baby.  He wanted to hold the baby - but we still haven't allowed that yet...soon though.  Patrick "got" him a present (a truck and car) just in case he needed an incentive to like the baby and William was enamored with it and all was right with the world.  Not a jealous bone in his body though - love him - he adores "his baby".  He can't quite say "love" yet, but he said "I - You Baby" "I - You Mommy".  Melt my heart.  He is going to be a super big brother.

Hilbert is giving Patrick a kiss

Then the family got to come in the room.  My sister finally got a minute (OR MONTH!) away from Med School - so she was down for a couple days - yay!, Daddy & Sara, Sam's sister Laura, Becky (BeBe) were all there - it was a big time.  We kicked them out a couple times because Patrick would be hungry and I hadn't mastered how NOT to flash everyone when BFing, I don't think they minded....  :)  And that's pretty much it.  We left the hospital on Sunday late morning - easy cheesey.  My parents stayed a couple more days, which was a HUGE help - since I was still very slow and on major drugs, and Sara makes the best baked ziti of all time.  Just saying.

William is such a ham - silly boy!

I don't know what else to add to the story.  Patrick is a perfect sweet beautiful little boy.  We are so lucky to have such great healthy little boys.  Life is good.

Giving the baby hugs (while not taking his eyes off of "choo choos"

Loves.

Patrick's Story

I probably should've found time to write all this down earlier, but hopefully I can remember the highlights...

I went to my 39 week appt on Thursday (Sept 1) as usual.  It was my chance OFF the sofa and I was pumped. I might have even done my hair and put on make up for a change! ha!  Blood pressure was a little high, but nothing humongo bad, I had managed to gain more weight than I meant to - but I'm attributing that to an after lunch appointment.... and all was well.  Dr. Chappelle walks in and asks why in the world we are waiting until the next week to have the baby!?!  Are we WAITING for something to go wrong?  To start spilling protein, go in to actual labor....!  She said I was making her VERY nervous and that we needed to go ahead and have the baby..........tomorrow...........  

William's last morning as an only child - I think we watched CARS

OoooooooKkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk......  We go get it scheduled, I text Sam, text my friend at work, call my boss, and go home.  Wow.  And wouldn't you know - the next day was the 2nd - an even number.... ugh.  Oh well.  I get over that.  Atleast his birthday will still be in September and not August.  I try to tell Sam that I'm taking myself OFF bedrest since I will be having a baby in approximately 16 hours, but he doesn't buy it and makes me take it easy.  We finish packing and cleaning the house.  Oh and at some point I did call my parents to let them know.  Sara had rearranged stuff at work to be able to come down for the 7th, so they wouldn't be able to leave until after school - that's fine.  

Last belly pic RIGHT before we left for the hospital - 39 weeks 1 day

I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight, which would've been no big deal, except that the c-section wasn't scheduled until 1:30pm....  But as luck would have it, Sam woke me up when he came to bed at 11:45, so I got him to get me a snack - I cut it close when it comes to food! haha!  I was still STARVING all morning (and technically didn't get to really eat anything of substance until the 3rd, but y'know....) 

chilling in the hospital, waiting - waiting - waiting

I don't really remember what happened in the morning.  Probably more cleaning.  Oh and I worked for four hours from the sofa.... I took a shower and spent a good thirty minutes on my hair and did my make-up.  I was NOT going to look like a crack addict in pictures this time around!!!! haha!!  I even put on lipstick!  Whether it was there after surgery - I have no idea - but there was not a greasy hair in sight - SUCCESS!!!  Anyhow.  We got to the hospital just after 11:00 (about thirty minutes ahead of schedule) and was whisked immediately into Recovery, changed into a hospital gown, plus socks, had monitors and IVs stuck to me - easy cheesey.  Let the wait begin.  

Not sure why - but Sam REALLY didn't want his picture taken - I think he's cute in all blue

Turns out, I was actually in labor during this time.  So I guess it's a good thing that Dr Chappelle decided we were having the baby.  Having never experienced true labor contractions, only pitocin awfulness, I seriously wouldn't have recognized what was happening as contractions and probably would've stayed home and not called anyone unless my water broke or something all weekend until my scheduled c-section on the 7th.  By the time I was wheeled into surgery, the contractions were less than 5 minutes apart - so Patrick had decided he was pretty much coming on the 2nd one way or another.  Makes me laugh....  All those plans and logistics thrown out...  Oh well - we can fly by the seat of our pants too little one!!

Look at those long fingers!!

Another weird coincidence that was discovered the day before - Dr Chappelle's husband is an anesthesiologist at the Medical Center and, by process of elimination, gave me a wonderful epidural for William's birth and also put William to sleep for his hernia surgery.  AND, he just happened to also be on call on Friday - so they were keeping it all in the family for us! haha!!

So beautiful.

Dr Chappelle apparently has a reputation for being exactly on-time if not usually early - so lo and behold - just before 1:00pm, she is on site and ready to go.  I get wheeled into the OR and moved over to the operating table.  Last time around, I was already drugged, exhausted, and WAY out of it.  This time I was not.  Something about the room terrified me for some reason.  I'm sitting on the operating table with my backside hanging out watching the nurses get everything ready and I'm fighting back tears trying to hold it together.  Sam couldn't come in the room until after I get my spinal (which by the way - HURT more than I was expecting) and all I could think was how much I wanted my husband in the room to hold my hand.

He really does look a lot like William, just chubbier.  :)

I then get laid down and I really believe the sheet they put in between my head and my belly is so I don't focus on how very naked I am - ugh - talk about feeling vulnerable.  Anyhow.  Finally Sam gets in there.  All the doctors are there and we're ready to go.  I think I'm still terrified but I can kinda see what's happening in some metal thing on the ceiling and I'm more than a little fascinated watching a blurry version on the surgery.  I saw Patrick being pulled out - surreal.  They all exclaim that's he's HUGE and I'm wondering what in the world does that mean exactly..... Then they pop his beautiful dirty little head over so we can see (it's a wonder Sam didn't faint - so proud) and then whisk him off to get cleaned up, APGAR'd, etc.  I remember how much sooner and louder he cried compared to William - sent me into tears - such a relief to hear new babies cry.

And he's crying again.... thank goodness

The fun part was how relaxed everyone was during the surgery.  We were all chatting about normal stuff - the Chappelle's daughter was sick and trying to get ahold of the pediatrician (who we also use - need to get that cell number! ha!), people's weekend plans, football.... it was neat.  And it was also interesting that in the thick of it you would have no idea that the two doctors in the room were married - each so very focused on taking care of me and the baby - which I realize is probably how it's supposed to be - but I thought it was interesting none the less.

BIG boy!!

Patrick scored a 9.9 on the APGAR test - which apparently is as good as it gets - yay Patrick! and he weighed a whopping 9.0 pounds.  I caught a glimpse of him on the table with his hands outstretched and he had the longest fingers!  Everyone was commenting on how large his hands and feet are - and I remember asking Sam if he had his big toe just like William did...  Our boys have their Daddy's feet - bless them.  :)  Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would hit 9 lbs.  I figured he'd be somewhere in the low 8's high 7's....  Everyone joked that it's a good thing we won't be having a third child - he'd end up being 12 lbs! ha!!  That would be no good....  Sam got pictures of new baby, got a family pictures, and then they left to the nursery while I got sewn up.  Technically, stapled up.  Staples are no joke.  I didn't like them.  But oh well.

Mommy Daddy and baby Patrick

Not sure how much time passed, but eventually I got to go to recovery and I don't think Sam was there waiting because by this time all the parents and family were there and looking through the window to the nursery, but he came by with my parents and that was fun.  I was there for about an hour or an hour and a half - I don't remember.  This time, I spent a good bit of time alone which I wasn't expecting either, but I guess when everyone knows that you will be leaving eventually they just want to stare at the baby.  Plus, I didn't have a room this time - just the fabric curtains.  No biggie.  It was quiet, and there was a lot of texting that had to be done since our email distribution didn't go out.  (Sorry if you were waiting on an email that never came....)

I get moved to the Mommy side, I have great nurses, all is well.  Pain meds are amazing. That's gets us up to William meeting Patrick for the first time............

Loves.

Patrick Crawford

So....... we had a baby!!!!

Patrick Crawford Rumer

September 2, 2011 at 1:17 pm

9 lbs 0 oz    20.5 inches

Much much more later, but I've got to psych myself up for a long post.  We are all in love, especially William.

Loves.

Good thing!

I went to the doctor today and apparently I was making her very nervous.... so we are having the baby tomorrow!  Here's hoping for a routine easy cheesey c-section, no magnesium, and only the appropriate amount of time in Recovery!! 

(Taken on Tuesday, August 30th)

Loves!