What the what?

Do people still blog? Likely not, but I was never consistent anyway! John is now 6 and Audrey is 10! They are so big and so much has happened. Audrey is having a toncsilectomy on Monday. I know that word is spelled wrong but this stupid blog doesn't have a spell check. Oh well. Anyway, I changed jobs over 2.5 years ago. I am doing great and have made great new friends. I have the best bosses...Robert and Bill. Robert I have known since I moved to Birmingham. I met April whom I love. She is a true friend. Kids keep Dino and I busier than we could ever know. Softball, baseball, basketball for both, wrestling, church. Literally, ever day of the week we are busy. I wouldn't have it any other way. We have made lifelong friends and we are truly living a dream.

Dec 2012

It's been forever since the last post. I need/will do better! J. is now 16 months old. He is such a joy. He is smart as a whip. He knows so many words that I can't even count them all. He can say sentences...like 'I want that'. His favorite word at the moment is 'outdoor'. He begs anyone who will listen to take him outdoor. He is wearing 18 month clothes and a size 5 diaper. He has used the potty a few times but nothing consistent. I put him on it everyday, though. He is able to communicate so beautifully with us. He can tell us when he is hungry without crying. He says eat and does the sign for it. I can ask him if he wants juice or milk and he answers by saying either juice or milk. The other day his milk cup was not in the living room and Dino asked me to go find it. I looked at J. and asked him to go find his milk and to bring it to us. He toddled out of the room and came back with it a few minutes later. Dino asked if he was supposed to be able to do that. I'm not sure but we were pretty stunned. He loves to feed himself and fights if I try to feed him. He can roar when I ask what a lion says, neigh when I ask what a horse says, and oooohh, aaaaahh, when I ask what a monkey says. One smart cookie I think he gets it from his big sister! Speaking of her, A. is doing great. She is in Kindergarten now. Her teacher is Mrs. Traynham. A. loves her. She is learning so much and is really close to reading. She knows lots of sight words. She is doing cheernastics and karate. She broke her left arm at the end of September. She was a huge trooper and was so brave. The fracture was a 'buckle' type at the end of her tibia near the wrist and so she did not have to have a cast. She wore a splint which was removable for 5 weeks or so and it seems to be fine now. We had a sleep over last night with the twins, Megan and Issy. We made a cake and rice crispy treats. The girls were a lot of help, actually. We even all made it to church this morning J. is having tubes and adenoid removal on Tuesday. I dread it for him but I know he needs to have it done. The ear infections came back after the most recent tubes fell out. Seeing a new doctor so I am hoping for a better result.

Back to work. Yeah, those 12 weeks flew by. I was so very sad to go back to work. I absolutely loved hold J. all.day.long. LOL He demanded it so I obliged. He would cry when I put him down. I did manage to shower and eat lunch most days. J. is doing great at school. I'm so proud of that. He took a three hour nap yesterday! I would say he is adjusting very well! That gives me such relief. I have to say that it was much easier leaving him at school than it was A. I knew all of the girls there at the school. Two of them are even the same ones who looked after A. when she was a baby. Talk about peace of mind! I didn't even cry when I left him on the first day. I knew he was in good, loving hands. A. is doing very good at school. She is learning to read and can sound out words. She is one smart girl. She is a great big sister, too. Very loving with the baby and a big helper! She went to Gigi's house last weekend for a couple days in order to attend Caroline's 3rd birthday. When she got back she told me how much she missed Johnny. I told her how much he missed her and how he cried. He may be only 3 mo old but I know he missed his sweet sister. I do love how she calls him Johnny. I love how when Johnny sneezes it is often with three in a row just.like.my.day. :) Love! I feel like it is a sign from him letting us know he is there. We are all getting used to our new routine. My morning this Saturday started at 6:15. J. slept 15min longer than during the week. LOL I got to sleep in because I normally wake up at 5:30. Oh and let me say, that J. sleeps so good. He is sleeping 10-11 hours every night. A. did the same thing. Yes, it is awesome. :)

J rolled over today for the first time! I put him on the floor for some time to just stretch. I started out with him on his back and then decided to give him some tummy time. I keep forgetting to do this. I rolled him over and in about 15 seconds he flipped back over to his back. He rolled to his right. I flipped him back over after clapping and being excited. He looked at me as if I were crazy. He was on his tummy again and this time he rolled over to his left and then on his back. I clapped and got excited again! He gave me a few smiles. I was so proud. I called D right away and told him! He was just as excited. J had his two month appt today. He weighed 10lbs 1 oz which was 25%. He was 23 3/4 inches long which is 75% and his head circumference was 15 3/4 which is 50%. So he is long and skinny. He got 4 shots today and vax via mouth. A went with us and got her flu mist. She is doing so well as a big sister. I'm so proud of her. Last week we went out of the state for the first time. I went alone with both kids. I must be crazy, right? Yeah, it didn't go as smooth as I was hoping but overall it was pretty good. They both rode really well for me. I knew A would but was concerned about J. He only cried when he got hungry which was just perfect. We got to visit Uncle James and Aunt Megan. We loved their new house. So cool! A had a blast with her cousins. J had fun with them, too. They took turns holding him and feeding him. It was so sweet how they fought over whose turn it was to hold him. Cousins rock! After that, we headed south to Brookhaven. We saw lots of family but didn't get to see everyone. A got to play with Carson three times and Dylan twice. She got to see Issy, too, and even went to her house for some major play time. And I finally got to meet Brantley! What a cutie he is. It only took me 8 months to see him. Ugh! I hate living so far away. I'll post some pictures from the trip once I get my camera hooked up to the computer.

Time marches on

I can't believe J is already 7 weeks old. He is growing so much. Such a sweet boy, too. He loves to be held and will often cry if I put him down. He weighed 10lbs at the doctor the other day. He was not quite 7 weeks at that visit. He really loves to eat. I mean all.the.time. I am breastfeeding so this really takes us most of my day, which is totally fine with me. How many times do you get to hold your sweet baby for hours? For me only twice. I breastfed A. for 2.5 months. I had to stop when I went back to work because I didn't own a pump. This time, I found one on craigslist for $50. It is working fairly well. I hope to pump at work. I've been told they have a pumping room. I hope they still do considering all the changes. I go back on 11/7. I'm dreading it so bad. I will be heading to Mississippi next week so John can meet everyone. He has met Gigi, Granny, Pop Pop, Granny S, Aunt Ruth and Uncle Billy, Aunt Gail and Richard so far. He has many more to go. We really love our families. J. is already sleeping in his own room. He has been giving social smiles for weeks and has been smiling after feeds since 9 days old. Pretty impressive. He has excellent head control and has been able to hold up his head since he was only a few days old. A. could hold hers up before she even left the hospital. They look so much alike. It amazes me, actually. They have the same nose, color of eyes, and the same hair or lack there of! A. is in soccer. She really loves it. She smiles as she chases the ball around. She scored a goal a couple weeks ago! She is doing great in school. She is in 4k and really learning a lot. We saw a no parking sign today and she could read the word NO. She asked what the sign was trying to say. She can read the CVS sign, too. LOL As we are driving around town, she knows where we are and if I take a different road home, she always comments. "Where are you going?" If we pass her pedi's office or the dentist, she always notices. As we drive, sometimes we get into deep conversations about God and Jesus. She wonders why she can't see God and how can she feel him. Very deep for a 4 year old. She is in Awana and I'm a teacher in her class. She is so well behaved. Now I understand why the teachers were always praising her behavior. She really is good. Here are a few pics. Here is Audrey:

Here is John:

I think they look quite a bit alike. Love it!

3.5 weeks old

J. is now 3 and a half weeks old. Time is flying by! He is such a sweet baby. He sleeps so well at night. Only wakes me once a night to feed and then goes right back to sleep. We usually sleep in until 8 or 9am. So nice! A. was always a good sleeper, too. She was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks old. What a blessing to have kids that like to sleep as much as Dino and I! J. was 8lb 7 ounces at his 2 week check up which was more like 2 and a half weeks old. He had grown an inch and a half since birth by that visit. How crazy?? His head had grown 1/2 inch, too. They had to get blood from his heel which he did not like at all. I felt so bad for him. He cried and cried while the nurse tried to get the blood. He is a slow bleeder, like me. He calmed down as soon as she stopped pressing. His next appt is 10/10. He will get a few shots at that visit.

Here is a few pics of him. He still has his brown hair and blue eyes. We shall see if those change or not. I have a suspicion that his hair might change color. His eyes seem to be lightening up toward the center, just like Audrey's did. They sure are pretty.



A. loves her baby brother. She is amazing with him. Helps change diapers, get bottles, feed him, hold him, kiss him. So sweet! This picture was taken right after we got home with him. Look how proud she is! I'm so proud of her and how she has dealt with having this new baby in the house and having to share time with us with him. Amazing little girl!

John's arrival!

John was born on 8/8/11 at 3:37am. What an amazing day it was! The labor went really fast this time once I actually started labor. I went to L&D at 6:30pm on Sunday. The plan was to give me a cytotec pill and then start pitocen in the next morning. Well it turns out that I was already in labor when I arrived even if it was early labor. I had progressed from 1cm to 2.5-3cm. I was having semi-regular contractions. John was doing great. The nurse told me that I could either go ahead with the cytotec or wait for the pitocen in the morning. She was afraid that if I got the cytotec that labor would commence pretty strong since I was well on my way anyway. I told her I was there to labor and to have a baby so I saw no reason to wait. Normally they have to give the cytotec every 4 hours to help ripen the cervix. When she first checked me I was already 75% thinned so I only needed the one dose. They never even had to give pitocen at all. John was ready and so was I! I started getting very uncomfortable at around 12:45am and she rechecked me. I was around 4cm then and 80% thinned. I requested the epidural. That was finished by 1:30am. She rechecked me again right after getting that and I was at 6cm. This was exactly where I was after getting the epidural with Audrey. Only 45minutes later, I told the nurse that I was back in pain and wondered if I was complete. Sure enough, I was at 10cm and ready to push! My waters still had not broken. The nurse could see the bag and was amazed. Once the doctor was woken up, they broke the waters and then I started pushing. I had some trouble pushing his head under the pelvic bone so the doctor helped with the vacuum. It left a spot on John's head, poor thing! I pushed for 35minutes and he was here. He was perfect and started crying right away. He also peed on the doctor as he was wiping him off. He peed again once they got him to the warmer. All of this before they could even way him. He weighed in at 8lbs 2ounces and 20inches long. Big boy for sure! He was nearly a pound heavier than his sister! A. just loves her little brother. She is such a great big sister. I couldn't be prouder of both of them. We both were released from the hospital on Wednesday. John lost down to 7lbs 12 ounces. We went to his first pediatrician appt that Friday and he had gained up to 7lbs 13 ounces. We are breast feeding so it was good to see that he was gaining weight! He is doing just great and is such a good baby. He hardly cries at all. He is only a week old, though. He does love his sleep which is nice. I hope he keeps this up!
Will add some pics as soon as I get them added to the computer!