We've Got A Big Boy On Our Hands....

Spence wore big boy underwear all day. No accidents. Good job, buddy!!!! We're very proud.

My Sweeties....

**2012**

Our Christmas was really special and we hope yours was great, too. Happy New Year!!!!

Does Anyone Still Read This Thing!?!

I'm sorry to the people that still do. I just don't know what else to say other than I've got two young kids, two jobs (plus cakes) and it's the holidays.

So, here's the deal. Wesley is amazing...he's very gentle and sweet just like Spence was. We just shaved his head and last week he started rolling over in earnest. He never cries unless something is wrong and he is a good, good sleeper. He just had his 4 month check up and he was 17.5 lbs. and 27.5 inches long. He is in the 95th percentile for weight and 105th percentile for height. BIG BOY!!!

Spence is so excited for Christmas...he is very interested in Santa. He loves hanging ornaments and looking at lights when we're driving around! He also really loves watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and the Charlie Brown Christmas. So, here are pics of Wesley up to date and then I will post about Christmas next week!

OpEn HoUsE

The Open House for Spencer's school was last night. We went into his classroom and he made a picture frame for me at the arts and crafts table. Then we went and visited his old classroom where there was a HUGE copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Spence read it to us....pretty cute.

He made some art projects in the other classrooms and then we got to have a cookie on the way out. It was a good night! Up next is the Fall Festival...

WELCOMING WESLEY

We checked in to the hospital at 5:30 am on August 4th for my c-section. It was a very nerve-wracking morning...once we got there, they put my IV in and once my doctor checked in it all went very fast after that. They wheeled me into the operating room where they gave me my spinal block so I wouldn't feel anything. Cody had to stay in a waiting room while they did that, so he kept himself occupied while he waited....

Then they started my operation which was by far the strangest experience of my life. I could feel everything without really feeling anything. When it was time for them to take the baby out they said, "Ok, you're going to feel some pressure..." and it felt like I had a Volkswagon on my chest. Then all of a sudden I felt the baby come out and I heard him cry right away. It was such a different experience than when Spence was born...no waiting to see if he was ok. He was peachy-pink and strong right away. Cody and I were both crying. Here we are meeting our baby boy for the first time.

We stayed in the hospital for 4 days and by then we were ready to get home to Spence. He was so happy to see us and the first thing he said when he met Wesley was, "Can I hold my baby?" So, he held his little brother and hung out with him for a few minutes then he went on about his day. :)

We are so happy to be home with both of our boys. Our family is complete!

You know what?

Being pregnant in the middle of the summer f-ing sucks.

Updated Update

We went to our ultrasound and saw our sweet baby boy - he has a lot of hair already! :) And the doc said there is no evidence of anemia and it looks like his heart defect is gone or too small to be detected. He said, "This child is 100% healthy - I give him an A+." We were so happy!

The doc also estimates that he already weighs 5 lbs. If you do the math on that, he's on track to be bigger than Spence was. Yikes. But my doc said she'd probably take him early if that was the case. So, it's looking like the 3rd week in July or so? We'll see!

We're just so glad he's in good health!

Update on Mr. Wesley

About 6 weeks ago, Spencer got the Hand, Foot & Mouth virus at school. I didn't realize it, but I caught it too. I didn't know because I never felt sick or had any of the same side effects that Spence did. Regardless, a blood test showed that I had it.

I went in to the doctor yesterday for my regular appointment and because of the positive test she wanted to monitor the baby's heartbeat for a while. They put me on the fetal heart monitor and also a monitor for my contractions. They were pretty surprised to find out that I was having fairly strong and regular contractions. They gave me a shot of a muscle relaxer so that they would stop - but they felt that the shot dropped the baby's heart beat a couple of times and they were concerned about that.

My doctor sent me straight to Good Sam where they monitored me for an additional hour or so. Everything was completely normal. Then they ordered a bunch of ultrasounds for me to determine how the baby looked and if he was stable. The ultrasounds also came back completely normal.

Essentially, they felt that the baby was 100% fine and sent me home.

As far as the Hand, Foot & Mouth issue - my doctor wants to test Wesley for anemia because that is the most common problem with fetuses whose mother contracts the virus. I have an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon (they can tell if the baby's anemic through ultrasound, apparently??) and we'll know more then. I'm guessing they may just put me on iron supplements or something to that effect, but it doesn't seem like anyone is too terribly concerned about him needing to be delivered early or anything.

Sooo, that's the latest!

CAMPING!

This weekend was Spencer's first camping trip! We camped up at Christopher Creek with two other couples.

It rained the first night and was pretty cold. But he fell asleep in his little sleeping bag like a champ. The next morning, we were worried about him having a leaky diaper so we changed him, but it was a very poor decision on our parts because he was freezing to death and couldn't calm down for a while afterward. We felt like such jerks. But once the sun came out it warmed up a lot and we went for a walk down to the creek.

He rode in his wagon down near the water and then we put his extra special fireman rain boots on so he could play in the water. He LOVED it. He scooped mud into a Lightning McQueen bucket and played on the rocks. He saw a real, live caterpillar and loved that the water was so cold.

Then we went back to our camp and just lounged around for most of the day on Saturday. He only took about a 45 minute nap so he fell asleep on my lap that night while we were making s'mores. The second night was much warmer and he wasn't nearly as loud in the morning.

Overall, he seemed to love it. It was a little tough on me, mostly because it was so hard to get comfortable at night...and of course I had to get up to pee both nights which was very cold and kinda scary! Haha... But once both boys are old enough, I think we'll definitely try again.