Firemen

Scott and Blaise are out on the porch playing firemen. They are riding around in their firetruck, blowing whistles they got from a friend this morning, and telling us how they are putting out ten fires on our house. This is a step up actually... a couple of weeks ago they kept driving to the animal shelter in the firetruck.

It's fun to watch them playing pretend... but interesting to try and figure out where they come up with these things. The animal shelter thing I think came from a Curious George book. They've finally figured out the firetruck and Scott at least, has become interested in firefighter's and putting out fires, because last week the firetruck came to storytime at the library (we also brought home a few library books about firefighter's.) The part I can't figure out is why they think a firemen would use a whistle to put out a fire? I'm trying to remember if there was something in a book somewhere about firemen having whistles. It's usually something from a book, being as Scott loves to read so much.

Introducing the New Little Man

Apparently... laughing really hard works?! Caution- if you aren't interested in the details of birth, skip the next paragraph.

Things got started around midnight, with my water breaking in my sleep. Not a pleasant feeling. Contractions started about an hour later and we were able to rest a little bit around the house before dropping off the boys with a neighbor and heading to the hospital at 3am. They checked us in right away, since it was obvious that my water had broken. Thankfully, one of my 2 favorite midwives was on call... who also happens to be the midwife that I have been seeing regularly since I was pregnant with Scott, so she is very familiar with my "birth plan." The nurse that night just didn't really understand that I really did want a natural birth- so we were especially thankful for Tina (the midwife), who really stuck up for us :) Once we got settled into our room, my contractions were about 2-4 minutes apart and I was 6-7cm dilated. We hung around. Thrilling right? Being as we are not the most talkative people to begin with, and I was rather busy the conversation was fairly slow. And between contractions I was noticing weird things... like the clock said it was Fri 23 and should have said Fri 24. Anyway. Things progressed. I threw up, as is usual for me. Started feeling pressure shortly after that and tried to get "comfortable" for pushing. Pushing was much harder this time around. Blaise seemed to be just anxious to be born, he was out in 3 pushes, 10 minutes... not this baby. I remembered to ask for a mirror, so I could see, which to me was very cool. After about 40 minutes of pushing, Michael was born- posterior (facing up), which is the main reason pushing was so much more challenging. Because Tina did her job so well, and also because I could see what was happening and felt more in control, I didn't tear at all... despite the fact that little Michael weighed a good pound and then some more than either of his brothers. I got to hold him right away and Tina helped tremendously with making sure we were allowed to take things at our own pace immediately after birth. I got to cut the cord and they didn't take Michael to weigh and measure him until we were ready.

Michael's stats, since they are probably too small to read in the announcement picture... he was born at 6:37am on Friday July 24. He weighed 8lbs 14 oz, and was 19 3/4 inches. He is named after my dad and my brother- who were both very excited to meet him when they came by in the afternoon. He has 2 very proud big brothers, who were also very excited to meet him and both anxious to hold him when they came by right after lunch. As you can see... he has a full head of black hair, just like his brothers did and most definitely looks like one of the family :)

We were able to come home yesterday and got here right around lunch time. It is good to be home... I can't stand trying to sleep in a hospital bed. We are all doing well. Nursing is going well. The boys love their new baby brother and keep offering him his toys and asking to hold him.

Cullen will be home tomorrow and probably Tuesday too... and then taking half days for a while. Our church and some other friends as well will be bringing us meals for a few weeks. I think we are well taken care of :) We'll see how often I manage to update this as I adjust to the chaos of life with 3 little ones!

Walking and Baseball

Okay, so everyday this week we have been taking a family walk in the evening (you know, to encourage little Moose to go ahead and be born already!) When we get back to the house both the boys beg to play baseball. They get a few swings and then we come in and start the whole bedtime routine. Scott has actually gotten pretty good. He can hit quite the line drive and insists on running to "first base" after he gets a hit. Blaise on the other hand, has just figured out the proper grasp and stance... now to master actually swinging the bat instead of lifting/dropping it off his shoulder. Of course, his inability to actually hit the ball doesn't bother him in the least, so everyday he gets a few pitches too. Tonight, one of those pitches bounced off the top of his head. It was the funniest thing... had me laughing hysterically for a few minutes- which is generally not a good thing when you are several days beyond 40 weeks pregnant, but maybe that will help get things started? Oh, and don't worry all we have is wiffle ball sets and Blaise's is kind of like wiffle ball coated with some kind of foam, so it didn't hurt him.

Due Dates...

Due dates are pretty much worthless. At least that's what I've learned from having them come and go for the 3rd time with not the slightest indication of impending labor. What now... we keep waiting for a week, then the Dr will have us in for an US to measure fluids and an NST- regardless of how those tests turn out, the Dr will then try to schedule us for an induction as soon as possible. That said, pray for the baby to decide to come on it's own by Friday, so I don't have to have that fight again.

What else is new? Nothing much... still trying to entertain ourselves with playdates and library time. My dad is moving down tonight, so this week, we'll probably get to spend some time with him (since he doesn't currently have a job.)

Blaise has taken to tucking himself in lately. He still sleeps in the crib, but has his quilt from Great Grandma Jill (which according to Scott is a "cover" not a "quilt.") Every night and naptime for the past week or so, I go in to check on Blaise and he is under his cover. Nevermind that we keep the house at 78 and he sweats like crazy.

July Already?

Yes, I know it's July... and I should update more frequently. We are still here and as of today, I am still pregnant... 39 weeks now, so we're getting close to meeting our new little one. Theoretically, it could be any day, but with our track record... we're just trying to keep busy and not dwell on it. Nothing too adventurous of course, playdates and library time mostly. My favorite are the playdates that involve pools. Scott seems to be getting better at actually kicking, rather than just taking rides :) Blaise, ever the independent 2 year old, wants to do everything by himself- this includes jumping into the pool (nevermind, he only just barely gets air when he jumps.) I did actually let him jump in himself once, since then he's okay with holding my hands, but still wants to jump by himself. For the record, he didn't choke, and rarely does.

Rewind to the 4th of July... we had quite the restful day.

We started out with this performance by Blaise :) Then we headed over to my mom's for some swimming. No pictures of swimming, sorry. Later in the day we just hung out at home. Scott got to play some good soccer with his Daddy.

And then, after Scott's face was all red from playing so hard, I remembered to take a 4th of July picture of my boys :)

More recently, Blaise has started trying to play baseball... and apparently, he didn't want his picture taken :)

(PS- yes he did hit me and yes it did hurt... but he also did manage to hit the ball :)

And then today, Scott got to help Daddy wash the car. He was quite the hard worker (which is not a surprise) and stayed out there working until both cars were washed.

All in a Week?!

So this past week or so I remembered to take note of a bunch of the little amusing things the boys do that I wanted to post about. Here are 8 short stories, in no apparent order :)

#1 - Last weekend we got new tires for the van at Sam's club. We went in past the huge aisles of tires and dropped off our key, before wandering around Sam's for an hour and a half. Well, as we're walking, Scott starts telling me that we need our tires. He was very concerned that the new tires were not in the shopping cart. I explained they were going to put them on the van for us... he was not convinced. So we wandered back to the tire section to watch them put them on the van. Of course, in order to put the new tires on they had to take the old ones off- and the child freaked out! He was terrified they were taking his tires and ruining his car (he's still into the whole ownership thing.) He did calm down when I explained what was happening and agreed to stand there and watch the whole process. Thank goodness there's a window at the Sam's Club tire center :)

#2 - Last Saturday we went out and played a good old game of wiffle ball with some church friends! It was great fun. And for the record, even at 36 weeks pregnant, a softball player is a softball player. I think I bruised the inside of my pelvic bone- but it was fun. Scott did well for his first "real" game of baseball and Blaise even hit once or twice (off a T.)

#3 - For some reason my children get the following two phrases confused "Take off your shoes." and "Take off your pants." Not every time, thankfully, but frequently enough to warrant mentioning :)

#4 - The boys have also taken to backseat driving, sort of. If there are any other cars on the road, in their view they yell, "Get out of our way car!" In fact, Cullen and Scott were following Blaise and I to drop off the van for some other service (it's been an expensive week!) and Scott told us to get out the way.

#5 - Blaise has a new obsession with airplanes. He points them out from the stroller, the car, and even gets out of the pool to point them out when the fly overhead (which is frequent, since we're in the landing pattern.)

#6 - Scott can kill me for posting this when he's older, but he noticed earlier this week the opening in his underwear. He looked at me and informed me that his underwear had a pocket and it's for batteries.

#7 - Both the boys do what they call a "monkey walk" in the pool... not the same as the monkey walk I used to teach (which is where little people hold onto the side of the pool and walk themselves around where the water is too deep.) Their version is to walk on their hands and feet around their baby pool. It's entertaining.

#8 - Another new hobby they've discovered this week is mattress jumping. There's a spare twin mattresss under the bottom bunk bed and they figured out how to pull it out. First they push their chairs across the room and turn them up-side-down in the process. Then they pull the spare mattress about 2/3 of the way out. Then they jump off the bottom bunk onto the mattress and into the back of the up-side-down chairs... it's a make your own bounce house. No injuries yet, and don't worry too much, we don't let them do this everyday or anything.

The Beach!

Just a couple quick video clips from the beach. We were in Ocean City, MD (of course) for a visit with Cullen's parents/grandparents (6/6-6/13). Scott actually enjoyed the water this year. We played a game where he basically races the waves up the beach- he enjoyed it and warmed right up to the water, even braving waves up to his middle!

Blaise was cautious of the water- meaning, he wasn't afraid to play immediately beside it, but had absolutely no interest in actually touching it. At one point, he had a shovel in his hand and was playing right beside the water. A wave came up and caught him somewhat by surprise, he looked up just in time and threw the shovel into the water as if to say, "Here take the shovel, but don't take me!" Hysterical. He spent his time at the beach completely absorbed in playing in the giant sandbox :) Not the greatest action video, but he was focused, scooping sand the entire morning (both mornings actually.) We saved the oyster shell he used as a shovel.

In other news, I am in the process of moving our entire blog here (previously this has been just for videos). This "process" might take me awhile, but hopefully before the baby comes... then maybe I'll start tagging entries and including more still pictures too.

Blaise... and more Blaise

Blaise playing... maybe this is where the obsession with basketball hoops comes from? (For the whole story, read the other blog linked at the right, it has more details.) Oh, and Scott was helping out in this one, trying to pass the ball back to B. Unfortunately, B can't catch well yet.

Okay, not really the best/safest idea he's ever had- but it was too cute to resist pulling out the camera. You can even hear him saying, "Walk, walk, walk..." And don't worry, I had him get down after I finished taking pictures, and I'm sure he'll never try it again, right ;)

Why I Love My Front-Load Washer...

This is especially helpful now... and, for the record, they are usually faster.

Camping at Table Rock

Admittedly, not the best video... but hysterical because 1) Scott always refuses to sing and dance, but here he was singing AND dancing in circles around me and 2) He would completely stop and just stand beside me when he noticed that Cullen had turned the camera on (so we have about 9 of these less than 10 second clips of him singing and dancing.)

No trip anywhere near Clemson would be complete without a Frisbee lesson... he's well on his way to playing disc golf :)

They were playing nicely, until I got the camera... but you can see B being a perfect 2nd-soon-to-be-middle child and Scott learning self-control :)