On the Day He was Born...

I just love birth days, especially the birth days of my children. Davis' special day was no exception. For those of you who are suckers for a labor and delivery story, here's one for you.

He loves tucking his bottom lip under like a little bird

Saturday morning, the 27th of March, I woke up around 4:30am to some relatively strong contractions. They felt different than the Braxton-Hicks that I had been feeling for the past 3 months, so I thought "today might be the day!" I slept on and off between them until about 6am and then decided to wake Ryan up. He started timing them and in between contractions he raced around the house, doing his own version of nesting and cleaning everything up. Though the contractions kept getting stronger and harder tolerate, they were very sporadic (anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes apart). After watching them for a few more hours, we decided not to take our chances and get going to the hospital. Maddie came really fast (3 hours after we got to the hospital) and neither one of us was really keen on having a baby in the car.

After dropping Isaac and Maddie off with our wonderful friends, the Pluids (they were also the ones who watched Isaac when I delivered Maddie-- true friends, I tell ya), we headed to Methodist Hospital. After discovering that I was dilated to a 5, they admitted me and I breathed a sigh of relief and excitement knowing that today really was the day! I was lucky enough to have my friend, Amanda, come in and be my labor and delivery nurse. She was fantastic and just made the whole experience that much more special.

One of the few pics taken of him with his eyes open.

After that, things sort of slowed down--I got an epidural (which always scares me, but not as much as not getting one does), they broke my water, and we waited around for a few hours. Nothing much happened, so the doctor gave me a very low dosage of Pitocin to try and speed things along. It worked. In less than an hour, I went from a 5 to a 10 and was ready to go. I was the only patient in labor that day, so pretty much every nurse and tech on the floor was in my room, ready to get to work. Amanda coached me on one side and Ryan on the other. One big contraction and a few really hard pushes later, our little guy was born! Ryan temporarily forgot about me, I think, because he was so excited to find out the gender of the baby. I remember him saying, "Honey, you were right! It's a boy!" While I would have been overjoyed to have another little girl, in my heart of hearts I think I really wanted another boy. I was so happy. The best news of all was that he was born healthy and strong--8 lbs. 10 oz (just like his big sis) and 20.5 inches long.

It didn't take us long to decide on a name (it was one of only two that we really agreed on). I love the name Davis because it's such a strong, solid name. Ryan loves it because of all the different nicknames he can use: Dave, Big D, Little D, D-Dog (Amanda, our nurse, came up with that one). We chose Reed as his middle name after Ryan's paternal grandfather.

So far, Davis is a very calm, easy-going baby. I said I needed a little calm, right? He is a little angel and we can't wait to get to know him better. While I am excited to get home from the hospital and have my whole family under one roof, I have loved having this special time with Davis and I. Things are about to get crazy and this might be the only one on one time I get with my little guy for awhile. As I look at him sleeping in his little plastic hospital bassinet, I am overwhelmed with feelings of love and gratitude.

We feel so lucky.

Meeting their Little Brother

Isaac and Maddie were able to meet Davis for the first time last night. The only things that they thought were more exciting than their new little brother were the juice box and graham crackers that they got from the snack bar.  Here are a few pictures from the hospital:

 The entire family of five together for the first time. 

Maddie's first view of Davis up close.

Isaac was really excited to hold his little brother...

until we made it clear that he couldn't hold him all by himself...

and after about 15 seconds he just wanted his juice box and graham crackers back. 

Maddie liked holding him as well--as long as she still got to hold her graham crackers with her other hand.

Kind of an angry sleeper, huh? Everyone keeps commenting on how much blonde spiky hair he has (even though it looks red in the photo, it really is very blonde)--we initially thought it was curly but then his first bath changed all that. We can't get over his super chubby cheeks, big lips, and manly nose. We love you, Davis!

Introducing our Newest Addition!

We couldn't be happier to announce the birth of our son, Davis Reed Payne, born this afternoon at 3:05 pm, weighing 8lbs, 10oz, and measuring 20.5 inches long.

Both baby and mom are doing great. More details and pictures to come.

Isaac and Maddie haven't yet met their new little brother, but we will keep you all updated.

Thanks so much for your love and support!

Biding our Time

In hopes of making the last couple of weeks of pregnancy fly by, the kids and I have jam packed our schedule with play dates and outings. If the baby comes early, it will be a pleasant surprise, but if s/he waits a couple more weeks, at least we have some fun things to look forward to, right? Plus, Gram Maddie doesn't come into town for 12 more days (we can't wait!), so I am hoping baby makes their debut as close to her arrival as possible. 

Here are some pictures of what we did this past week.

Paid a visit to the Easter Bunny in the mall. Maddie had a hard time waiting her turn, as you can see, and tried to hone in on Carter's lap time. Her brother, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with sitting with the bunny and would only wave to him from afar. 

 She loves bunnies, and calls them "booonies." It's one of my favorite words to hear her say right now.

The kids rode the Easter Train with their friends. They never tire of doing this. You know who does? The lady who runs the train booth. I think our large group of children quite overwhelmed her. As my friend Chrissy said, "Whatever they pay her to run that train, I'm sure it's not enough."

Ate ice cream at the mall.

And this morning we dyed Easter eggs, which was complete madness, but luckily not disastrous since we did it in the kitchen sink and all spills were contained.

We are anxious and excited about the next few weeks and months. A lot of changes will be happening in our family, but change is good, right? Ready or not, here it comes!

A Reason to Celebrate

What used to be a great wall of snow on our deck just a few weeks ago...

looked like this a few days ago and has since completely melted!

Hooray! Could spring really be almost here? We couldn't be happier about it. To celebrate, Ryan cooked the turkey that had been buried under the 5 feet of snow and ice on our deck since the beginning of December. The delicious bird did not disappoint!

Even though snow is in the forecast for this weekend, I couldn't be happier about the warmer temps. Goodbye longest winter of my life, hello jaunts to the park and evening walks!

The Tree House

Here's a picture of the tree house that my dad is building in his backyard for all of the grand kids. I like to think of it as my summer home since we will be living with my parents in a couple of months.

It looks like it has more square footage than our apartment.

Not bad, eh?

Isaac Turns 3!

I've decided that 3 is a great age to celebrate a birthday---they understand that it is their special day and get really excited about it, yet there are no expectations about what presents they should get or how big their party should be. We had a lot of fun celebrating with Isaac this past week. It was the first year where he really got into the whole birthday idea. Here are some pictures that were taken throughout the day:

 

Opening presents. As soon as he woke up he came running into the bathroom where I was doing my hair and exclaimed, "Mama! I'm three today!"

 

Playing with the new toys. He spends a lot of time in just his undies these days. After Ryan left for work that morning, I took the kids to play group where Isaac brought marshmallow peeps to share with his "peeps" (so clever, I know). I'd like to take credit for that one, but it was Ryan's idea. After work, we took the kids to McDonald's to celebrate with Happy Meals. 

This was my favorite picture of the day. Pure joy on Isaac's face when he saw the birthday cake that Miss Kelly had made him. Chase was just as excited as Isaac to give him the cake. It was really cute.

 

Isaac, Kelly, and Chase with the cake that he couldn't stop talking about. All that awesome black frosting left his lips purple for days :)

Didn't she do an amazing job? I can't think of any cake that would better suit our little guy than this one right here. 

Make a wish!

Thankful for our Little Village

Image swiped from Google

I'm pretty sure I've never been as sick in my entire life as I have the past two weeks, and most especially the past 4 or 5 days. I won't bore you with all the gross symptoms, but I will say that I never knew something as simple as the common cold could totally wipe me out for so long. Apparently they are hard to shake when you are 3 weeks from giving birth. I'm slowly but surely feeling a little bit better every day, so hopefully I'm past the worst of it.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that proverb has never hit home for me more than in these past two weeks. So many people have done so much for me and my children. I don't know how we would have survived without them. More than anyone, Ryan has taken over just about everything. I would embarrass him if I went into great detail about all the extra work he has taken on (he's not much for being the center of attention, even in a blog post), but I will just say, once again, that I am one smart girl for marrying him and I pray our daughter(s) follow in my footsteps and marry someone as kind and selfless as him.

Our family has also been so supportive with daily phone calls to check up on me and the kids and reassure me that things would get better (and they have). It has meant so much. My children, considering they have received way more attention from the television than they have from me lately, have been little angels.

And have I mentioned that we are surrounded by some of the best and most considerate people in the world here in Iowa? I couldn't ever hope for better friends than we have here in the Midwest. Let me just tell you about some of the ways they have shown they care over the past two weeks:

• Bringing flowers
• Bringing my favorite chocolate
• Countless offers to take my children for play dates or OB appointments or just so I could rest
• Lending humidifiers
• Bringing cool toys for my kids to play with since we were stuck inside for way too long and getting major cabin fever
• Delivering treats to our family
• Taking care of church responsibilities for me without even being asked so I wouldn't have to worry about it
• Insisting on bringing dinners, even when I told them it wasn't necessary
• Coming over at a moment's notice to stay with our kids so Ryan could take me to the doctor
• Making my son a special cake for his birthday, knowing that I wouldn't have the energy to do it myself
• Offering to give me a pedicure (I totally need cute toes for when I give birth, right?)
• Taking over my week of teaching preschool
• Offering to take awesome before (aka pregnant belly) and after (aka newborn babe) pics of me and my kids (we're holding off on this one until my eyes are no longer bloodshot and I don't look like the walking dead)

I cannot say enough how watched over and cared for I have felt over the past couple of weeks, as difficult and trying as the days and nights have been. I am so thankful for the little village that my growing family is surrounded by.

Is it my birfday yet?

That's the question that Isaac has been asking Ryan and I on a daily basis for weeks. He has carried around an unopened birthday package from his grandma for days. This morning he finally got to open it. I'll post more about his big day later, but I wanted to write down a few things about our little man as of late so that I can remember what he was like at this age:

• He still loves anything to do with cars, trains, or airplanes.
• He is doing a great job with potty training with just the occasional accident (Keep it up, buddy!). He doesn't like to use other people's bathrooms very much. While playing at a friend's house yesterday, she said to him, "Isaac, let's go potty!" "Oh, I don't go potty at other people's houses" he protested. Nice try. You do, now, big guy.
• He has learned how to milk things for all they are worth---he STILL asks for a treat after going to the bathroom, and after getting over a cough almost 2 WEEKS ago, he STILL occasionally points to his throat and gives a little fake cough, asking in a weak voice, "Can I have something like a popsicle or lifesaver to make my throat feel better?"
• He loves imaginary play.
• He no longer loves to share everything with his little sister and has become quite possessive of his favorite toys. 
• He loves to boss Maddie around and I have even caught him using Love and Logic on her a time or two. "Maddie, do you want to share your toy with me or do you want to go to time-out?" 
•  One of his favorite phrases is, "Not quite yet..." and he usually uses it when I ask him if he's ready to do something that he's "not quite yet" ready to do, like go take a nap or put his shoes on.
• He still loves the songs "Life is a Highway" and "Real Gone" and can almost sing them both by heart. Sometimes at night he will belt his favorite Cars and Primary songs at the top of his lungs until he gets tired. Maddie doesn't seem to mind and can usually fall asleep right through it.
• He is very even-tempered and rarely gets really upset. He inherited this characteristic from his dad and I love it about both of them.
• He still takes naps everyday with very few exceptions (I will fight this one for as long as I can because mama needs her naps, too).
• Ketchup, chocolate, and candy are his favorite food groups, but if he's hungry he'll usually eat just about anything. Kiwi is his favorite fruit of choice as of late. He also still loves quesadillas and pizza.
• He loves preschool. Maddie hates preschool because she doesn't get to go and still cries when he leaves her on Fridays. I think this is one of the reasons that he loves it so much---he gets to do it all by himself. The other day, I went to pick him up from school. Maddie wasn't with me like she always is because Ryan happened to get home from school early so she stayed at home with him. As soon as Isaac got in the car, he couldn't believe that Maddie wasn't there waiting for him. Halfway home, he proclaimed, "I"m so sad! I miss Maddie!" I hope he still feels that way in five years. 
• If he doesn't like how we are disciplining him, he will often proclaim, "I'm not happy anymore!" so we know just how he feels.
• He still gives the best hugs and we love him so much. Thanks for making me a mom three years ago today, Isaac!