Meet Easton Parish!!

Easton Parish arrived on Thursday January 31, 2013 at 1:46 pm. He weighed 8 lbs and 3 oz, 20.5 inches long with RED hair!!  So adorable and we love him to pieces already!

Labor
First, let me just say I can't believe he was not only not early like I was sure he was going to be but he was late! I worked until I was in labor this time. :-) I had a doctor's appointment that morning and we actually scheduled an induction for the following Monday in case he didn't show up before then but since I was 2 centimeters dilated, up 1 from last week, I was sure my water would break at work. I actually started feeling odd around 4:30 at work but didn't decide that it was probably  labor pains until about 6 pm when I dropped off some files to a coworker on my way home. Why didn't I know I was in labor? Because I had to be induced for Colton and never felt the initial pains of contractions on my own and since they started off minor, it was hard to tell as being so pregnant everything feels a bit odd near the end.

After going home and discussing with Justin, we made dinner, took showers, called my parents to come pick up Colton (Justin was in a bit of shock/denial and thought I might be overreacting when I called them) I was looking at contractions every 5 minutes or so. Not too bad pain, but getting worse. By the time we got into a room at the hospital around 10 pm (which was a temporary room so Justin had a pull out seat and not a real bed), it was much worse. They had us in the triage room to see if I was really in labor. I was still only about 2 centimeters dilated so they let us stay but didn't officially admit me til the next morning. The labor pains got so bad I started making, what I like to call, my dying cat noise. I can't really describe it only to say that it was a cross between a cry of extreme pain and trying to breathe through the pain. It was fairly loud and super weird. They gave me meds for the pain, but that only allowed me to relax enough to sleep a little. And by a little I mean I would fall asleep then wake up 5 minutes later in great pain, then fall asleep again only to wake up 5 minutes later. Poor Justin. We were pretty exhausted and after all night of this pattern, I STILL wasn't dilated anymore. What was the point of all the painful contractions if they weren't actually doing anything?! I'm still bitter. :-) Anyhow, the next morning they evaluated me and basically said that if you don't want to be induced, go home and labor some more until it gets worse or your water breaks. Seriously go home and be in this pain? No thanks. So we decided to be induced. The contractions were so painful I really didn't think I was going to last much longer until the epidural. I had warned every nurse since we arrived that I was freaked out about the epidural due to my awful experience with a spinal headache with the last one. Thankfully they all took me seriously as did the anesthesiologist and did a great job and I was finally able to stop making the awful noise and relax and wait in anticipation of our new arrival.

After the doctor broke my water, I flew through dialation and was fully dialated really quickly. When it came to pushing, I only had to push for about 10-15 minutes before our new bundle of joy arrived. Thank goodness after the night of labor, I doubt I had the energy to push for very long (not like the 2 hours with Colton)!

First Pictures

 

Not happy!

 Happy Mummy!

 Happy Poppa!

 Justin and Brigette welcoming their new blessing, Easton!

 

Brothers
Colton came to visit his new brother later that day and was amazed by his brother and was so excited to see him and hold him. It was, of course, adorable. Colton continues to adore his brother and we are so proud of both of them.




The grandparents all got their turn at holding our new redhead and loving on him.















Just for those who are wondering, I had strawberry blond hair (mostly on my shoulders!) when I was born and we both have some red in our hair plus come from families with red haired grandmothers and such. I hope he keeps it as it is SO ADORABLE!!

37 and 38 weeks!!

It is NOT okay that I had to dig out shorts this past weekend so we could hike up Stone Mountain in JANUARY! It was freakishly warm, 74! Tonight I was able to enjoy driving with my windows open like it was still fall. Hope the warm PJs and clothes I packed in my hospital bag will be appropriate as I'm already warm natured to begin with! When I dropped Colton at daycare yesterday, his teacher seemed surprised I sent him outside to play in a t-shirt and pants, no jacket. "It's cool when the wind blows," she argued. It was 66! Lovely weather to play outside! :-)
  
We finally picked a name. You will have to wait til he arrives for us to post it here. :-)

I can't believe I have 3 weeks left!! Aside from having MILLIONS of things to do at work and at home to prepare for maternity leave and arrival home of Baby Y #2. The doctor says baby should be putting on 1/2 lb a week now and will likely be around 8 lbs. I have NO IDEA where he is going to grow, there is NO ROOM in there! I feel like my belly is one of those huge balloons people can get inside and he is stretching all his limbs at one time. :-) This little guy started moving around 9/16/12 when I was for sure I felt him move and hasn't really stopped since! Colton usually started up around 9 pm and moved til I went to bed. This guy is up and going all day, all night and has been more noticeable as he has run out of room the past months!

Funny things about Colton these days: He still twists his hair when he is tired, it is his absolute tell though he will NOT admit to being tired. He might agree to close his eyes to rest them for a minute, but he won't admit to being tired and makes a point to tell you when he yawns that he did not do that because he was tired.. He also has what Justin and like to call "duck" hair in that you can poor water on it but aside from the top few pieces, the underneath layers are still totally dry. Guess he got that thick hair from us!! Lately he is very demanding with play time. He'll say, "Here you can play with this toy," but when you start playing he informs you that you are doing it incorrectly. He also says, "I TOLD you ...." something he never actually told you about how to do something or something he wanted to do. When Colton is mad at us he tells us that "I'm not your friend" or "You are not my best friend!" It is sometimes hard not to laugh.

Potty training. Whew. Colton has been using the potty since he was about 18 months old. Until he was 3 he was NOT always consistent but had been doing great since turning 3 but has had phases of back and forth. Sometimes all day it is a disaster and other days it is great for 3 days in a row. We thought we were just having to work on night time, then we have disaster days. It can be exhausting. Then he says, "I'll try harder tomorrow!" :-) I know people try to limit liquids, especially at night, but I can't deny him water at bedtime if he asks for it. I know I get very thirsty at night. Oh, well. It will come when it comes. Hopefully.

Colton has a great imagination and can play by himself and tell stories for over an hour. It is very entertaining to observe. He is also very interested in guns, getting "bad guys" etc that we have to deal with/censor as needed. He also likes to talk about butts or poop if he thinks he can get away with it, I suspect this is due to things he hears at daycare. When he is "caught" he grins and says, Oh, sorry sorry sorry," like it was an accident. He is a smart cookie, that is for sure.

Last week Colton started saying, "Thank you, my Lady." He has one show he watches rarely about a little boy knight, so I suppose that is where he gets it but it is TOO CUTE!!

Here are some photos from our maternity session at 38 weeks. I feel so giant, I can imagine we will make it to due date of 1/28!

Happy Third Birthday!!

 

 Who needs a big party when you are THREE YEARS OLD?!! Dinner with the family and then a FREE outing to a local mall with a water feature, what could be more fun?! Colton had the best time, you would think he had done this a million times. Poor thing, we had to pry him away from the water while he shivered and shook and said, "I'm not cold!"

On the way!!

The adults are staying as far away from the water as possible!!

Actual birthday celebration day fun:

 

 

I LOVE trucks!! 

  

 Some big guy! Getting ready to play with water on the deck! Then water gun showdown with Uncle Eric!

Fun with Nana and Papa L under the dining room table with balloons!

Partying is hard work! Time to relax!

 Can't believe our little guy is already 3!! He seems so old sometimes, then we peek on him when he is sleeping and he is so sweet and little. He is a joy, even when he is driving us crazy! Recently he has mentioned an old classmate at school and said, "Joseph bites me sometimes (he hasn't been at school in at least 6 months) but I still love him." So sweet!! We have been telling him that we love him all the time, even when he is throwing a fit or being ugly, but that we might be sad at him when he is ugly. He likes to check and make sure this is true and ask us on a regular basis.

Colton's First Time Bowling
He did really well as far as patience and seemed to really enjoy the first round. He was also very good a cheering for Nana and Papa L and Mummy.

We all wanted to use the kiddie ramp!

Funny words he says are "Ugee" (ugly) and finally says "other" instead of "uh" as in, "I saw him do that the uh day." He also likes to say, "ola bar" instead of granola bar, though he can say it if prompted. He often is trying to find the "emote" control for his toys. He has a hard time with the letter L, sounds more like a Y so the front door is "yocked" and he is "yooking" for something.

Fun in the great outdoors!

These are not all in order but are some of my favorite shots from hiking at Stone Mountain this spring and summer.

Poor Sweaty child!!

Don't forget to stretch!!

Colton REALLY likes when people have walking sticks, and he knows just how to use them when he made his own!

Colton has been climbing inside this stump since he was big enough to stand. He calls it "my tree" and tries to find it each visit. He is about to be too big for it though!

 

 We love to see the train and wave at the passengers!

 "Fishing" at the neighbor's pool!

Sharing the news!!

So, we FINALLY shared our secret in August, a good time at about 3 months along. I took videos of when we told Justin's family and mine, however, trying to be sneaky with a camera at odd times to have a camera out resulted in some diasterous videos. We bugged Auntie Sarah to tell us when cousin Katy Grace's birthday party was so we could plan to tell everyone. Too bad my nonchalant camera angle resulted in some headless people and some not so fun angles of people in bathing suits! And when we told my parents, I double checked to make sure my camera was ON, which resulted in me turning it OFF and missing the moment and taping a few minutes later. BUT overall it was great fun as we got this adorable shirt for Colton to wear to both events and he was very happy to share his big news! Auntie Sarah thought we were just being goofy and put him in that shirt because we are nuts. :-) Everyone was very excited and WE were excited to finally share our news about Y baby number 2!



We also sent this photo out to family and friends we wanted to clue in to the news. I actually told some close friends at work before we shared with family (just because of timing) and mostly that involved me showing them samples of shirts like I got for Colton above and telling them I wanted them to help me pick out a cute shirt for Colton. Took some of them a minute to catch on! I actually showed this shirt to my supervisor at the time who said, oh that is cute! but took a few minutes to really catch the reality behind the shirt.

The Preggo Shots begin:

THREE MONTHS: 

While we are at it, here are my before and after hair shots before my 5th or 6th donation to Locks of Love. I told Justin I would wait til I got into the pregnancy to chop it off, but wasn't going to grow it back til at least 4 months AFTER new baby Y arrived. I recall the massive hair loss and dreadlock-like hair I had after having Colton and I'm not doing that again!! 

So much lighter!!