Baby Olie

This past Monday, August 23rd at 6:02pm, we welcomed baby Oliver "Olie" Christopher to our family. Weighing in at 9 lbs 4oz and 20 inches and a full head of jet black hair and blue eyes. He is an absolute dream baby. Seriously, the most mellow child, is immune to his big brother's 'loudness', is an awesome eater and sleeps most of the time (minus the numerous nighttime feeding session with mommy).

Delivery was super easy and the recovery period has been drastically different than the first time around. I actually had a mini date with my husband for a couple hours this afternoon to enjoy some beers and play a couple rounds of darts while my parents watched the kiddos. Little did the boys know that they would be at lunch with my parents sharing a hot dog while Dave Matthews was in the same restaurant. Gotta love Seattle! Last time at day 6 for our anniversary I could barely keep my eyes open and couldn't even enjoy a cocktail at dinner. So hard to explain the difference physical and mentally the second time around. As for the details, we were induced Monday, but when I checked in I was dilated to 5 and was already having consistent contractions about 10 - 15 min apart, so likely would have gone on my own soon anyway. At about 10:30am I was hooked up to some pitocin to move things along and at 1pm they broke my water. At this point I still had no pain. By 2:30 I was having contractions strong enough to stop me dead in my tracks and not be able to talk through them so I decided it was time for some happy drugs! I got the epidural at 2:45 and was dilated to about 7. By 5:47pm we were ready to push and after a long 15 minutes (heehee) we welcomed baby Olie to the world! I still cannot believe it was only 15 minutes of work to get this 9 lb 4oz/20 inch child into my arms! He and I were doing so well that we were able to leave the hospital and head home before the standard 24 hour stay. It was so nice to get home to my own bed and my other baby Henry!

As for Henry, well let's just say he has given us a run for our money this week. I thought the baby was going to be the hard part, boy was I wrong. It's not that he is jealous as he actually really loves his brother and is constantly trying to give kisses and 'help' out. He actually got Roseola while we were in the hospital delivering Olie and has not felt well all week, which in turn has created a very fussy and at times a defiant little boy. We have barely been able to get him to eat, he has been super addicted to my mom and really wanted little to do with Chris or I. He actually was asking his nauna to leave the house. Grabbing his shoes, her purse and saying "ready to go?" When she took him out for a drive when they pulled back in the driveway he said, "no, nauna's house." Before I knew it was because he was sick I thought we had traumatized him with the addition to the family and have been extremely emotional about the rejection I was feeling from my little man. While I hate that he is sick it did make me feel much better knowing it wasn't due to Olie and as soon as he was out of the woods things started turning around and mommy/daddy started to become his buddies again. Phew. When your first born asks to leave your house, won't come to his parents and has done a complete 180 in behavior, let's just say with the pregnancy/post partum hormone change it was more than mom could handle and saying a few tears have been shed is an understatement. However, he has recovered, Olie is unlikely to get it due to being breastfed and we are slowly getting his diet back on track. I am hopeful week 2 will be more of a 'normal' routine and far less tears being shed and more smiles are to be seen! ;o)

Anyway, enough of the details, how about some pictures of our past 6 days! Enjoy!

The new dualie....

Fam of 3

Today marked our last day as a family of 3 (assuming all goes as planned tomorrow and we actually get that hospital bed for our scheduled inducement). You can bet I will be the very first phone call at 6am on the nose to get the confirmation one way or another!

I wanted to make sure we got some special time in today for just the 3 of us to go play but we also needed to get some things done around the house. After a morning of cleaning up and making sure everything was ready to go we set off this afternoon to have some quality family time at my in-laws place on Brown's Point (Puget Sound). And as a special treat for Henry and to keep mom or dad from having to cook or do dishes we went out to Red Robin. Nothing too fancy but a nice afternoon with my boys. However, I noticed earlier in the afternoon that Henry felt a bit warm and definitely his behavior was starting to shift to being more needy/fussy than usual. After we got home we discovered he does in fact have a low grade fever. Perfect timing. A child that has never really had a fever (not bad for being 19 months old!) is making his super emotional mommy very worried/stressed out. Logically I know it's nothing to worry about as I have a feeling it's his 2 year molars, but logical thinking is not my best suit right now. The emotional side of me is certainly out to play. It makes me sad knowing that mommy may not be able to be here to nurse him back to good health. I guess I am starting to feel that tug of war of where should I be. With new baby or with my little boy who so wants to cuddle with mommy right now. I just hope by morning the fever has passed and he is in good spirits. The last thing I want is to be stuck in the hospital and not be able to check in on my little monkey, not to mention not being able to fully focus on the arrival of our new little one. Anyway, please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers as we jump into the next chapter of our lives as a family of 4!

Here are a few pics from our family outing today.

"19"

Today Henry is 19 months old! I cannot believe the changes he has made since he entered the world. Every day is something new and I simply cannot find the words to describe the joy he brings into our lives. A little note for you Henry from you mama who is so proud of you and loves you bigger than the sky!

My sweet boy,

Mommy wants you to know how proud and lucky I feel to have you as my own. You have taught me to slow down and enjoy each moment and have allowed me to experience a love that is indescribable. The end of the day as we share our special moments before bed time I cannot express the feeling I get as you wrap your arms around my neck and squeeze me tight. It's like a wave of love that I have never felt before take me away every single night in your sweet embrace. I love you monkey. Remember that mommy will always and forever love you. No matter how many other little monkeys join our family or how old you grow, you will always have mommy's heart in the palm of your hand. I promise to always have our special alone time where we can get lost in each other's laughter and share that special spark we have. Your life is going to change in just a couple days and I am feeling a bit sad about that. But, I promise you will soon realize how wonderful having an everyday playmate will be and how mommy & daddy will not stop loving you or fussing over your each and every achievement. Thank you for being you and never stop just being you.

Love your very proud and grateful mommy!

Play Date Extravaganza!

Today I hosted a play date for some of our mommy friends. I figure what better way to spend time before #2 arrives and battle the heat with company. It ended up being 7 mommy's and 8 3/4 babes! We all went to college together (all but 1 Pi Phi's) and in my opinion just don't see each other enough. Such a great time soaking up the sun and catching up while the little ones splashed around in the pools, enjoyed our new jungle gym and sandbox. I loved having all of the girls down and certainly plan to make this more of a habit. So glad you all were brave enough to venture to good ole K-town! Now you all know the drive ain't that bad after all! ;o)

Our set up (hidden in here is Brenda, Lauren, Max, Susy, Jessica & Lexi):
And, the highlight of the day...the adorable kiddos-

The beautiful girls....Adi, Hayden & Eden. All 3 are just sweet little ladies:
The big boys Walter & Henry enjoying some sandbox time:
My dear friend Brenda, her adorable son Sam & Henry:
Henry enjoying some snacks and in deep thought about something:
Gorgeous Johnny V...I just love saying his name Jess! Flows so well:Harley (such a happy baby!):
Eden(I just love this little girl and watching her and Henry in conversation...so funny):
Walter (his smile says it all...such a little ham!):

Baby Carp #2 Update

Today I had my last doc check up before the little one arrives! If he/she does not come this week I am scheduled to get induced on Monday. Yahoo! Hopefully my body will kick in on it's own before then though. However, my doc is out of town Thursday - Sunday so I sure hope it happens before or we just wait it out until Monday. I am dilated to 4+ and 80% effaced. Baby needs to drop a bit more before the action will begin. So until then we wait. But good news is our heat wave is over and our air system (A/C and heat) has been replaced. We are all set for #2!

Revised: Baby Games

As I mentioned in my previous post we have a couple baby games for the upcoming arrival of #2. I was able to get the second game scanned as well. So here is a glimpse of both games. Good luck!

Weight/Length Game (Total pot $58...blanks are not in play as we did not get a chance to sell these. So closest without going over wins!): Gender/Arrival Game (Total pot $30):

Baby Game

Given we like to gamble we put together a couple baby games for the upcoming arrival of baby#2. One of the games was weight/length game (doc way too big to load on the blog) and the other is the one below guessing the arrival date/gender. For all those that got in on the action good luck! There's a $30 pot up for grabs.