Father's Day 2012

I decided to celebrate Father's Day a day early this year because I couldn't wait to give DJ his gifts!

DJ already owned a helmet but I got Jayden one so he could use the other gift that I got DJ!

DJ spent a good portion of Saturday trying to put the carrier on his bike but the short version of the story is that it didn't work and we had to take the carrier back. DJ was so bummed because he was really looking forward to taking Jayden on a bike ride. We're going to research the carriers more and find one that works for DJ's bike because we both think it's a great idea to have one!

I also made DJ this; I found the idea online and I think it's so cute. My version isn't quite done because I'm not sure I really like the colors that I chose for the paper but once I determine the proper color scheme, it'll just be a matter of writing our name and the date!

Jayden also made a card with a little of my assistance and a poem with his handprint and footprint with his teachers' assistance at "school". DJ said he loved all his gifts and had a great Father's Day 2012!

A new pet

I mentioned in another post that we bought Jayden a new fish which he named Grover/Bert. This video was taken when we first gave him the fish.

Jayden is doing so good with reminding us to feed Grover/Bert every morning and he loves to drop the little pellets into the bowl!

Music to my ears

Jayden is always singing and making some kind of noise these days. It is so entertaining! He's also doing another of his favorite activities these days in this video - coloring with crayons!

Picture Post!

Ava spends most of her days sleeping, eating and well, pooping. But I guess that's pretty typical for a newborn! This was about a week ago.

Jayden and I have come up with a pretty good routine these days and just as I expected, I am really liking our time together now that we get more of it while I'm on maternity leave. I think I am going to have a VERY hard time when Jayden goes back to daycare full-time. Here, Jayden is enjoying his delicious breakfast of french toast and blueberries!

 Excuse my worn look but I just love these pictures. Jayden is more of a cuddler now that Ava has arrived. He likes to lay on this pillow in particular when we are cuddling.

 And while I cuddle with Jayden, Ava gets to spend quality one-on-one time with Daddy.

 Part of our routine these days is to spend a LOT of time outside, especially if it's minimally windy. Jayden likes to climb up on these chairs all by himself and we hang out here watching the buses and cars and trucks go by.

 Or sometimes he prefers to sit in the grass...

 When Jayden is home, this is where Ava spends most of her time. She LOVES the wrap and it is so much easier to hang out with Jayden when she is content and comfortable and I have my hands free!

 We always take a walk to the mailbox to get the mail after I pick him up from day care. Jayden is learning all about putting a stamp on letters and taking them to the mailbox to be mailed. His job is carry the keys and the letters when we walk to the box.

I love little Miss Ava's feet. They are so much more petite than Jayden's ever were. Jayden has adorable feet too though don't get me wrong!

 Another way we spend our afternoons is by spending it with our friends Mandy and Piper. Piper has a cool water table that Jayden had a blast with one afternoon.

 I am loving dressing Ava in her girly clothes. This is one of our favorites thus far. 

 We can see the smoke from the fire that is burning down by Fort Collins right now. It is a HUGE fire and has burned about 43,000 acres and about 100 structures. It's so sad and all we can do is just continue praying that no more lives will be lost (1 lady has died) and that God will send rain to help the firefighters contain the fire. The smoke made for a beautiful sunset last night though. The sun was a deep deep red which my camera phone does no justice for in the picture below.

 And here's the most recent picture of our little girl today. She had a bath this morning so her hair is nice and fluffy.

Update on life as we know it now

Ava is such a good baby. Life for the first two weeks with Ava in the house was a learning process but not a painful learning process thanks to the fact that DJ took two weeks off of work. DJ and Jayden majorly bonded and got to spend so much time together and that helped immensely. Jayden has done so well with having Ava around and he's gotten to the point where he will look at us with his eyebrows raised and say "sister?" if he doesn't know where she's at or if he hears her and can't see where she's laying. 

We're still trying to teach Jayden that he has to be super gentle with Ava because she's delicate or fragile or breakable or whatever word seems to be the most understandable to a 21 month old at the time. He loves to give her toys which is great unless they are hard plastic because he tends to toss them at her. Jayden also gets confused sometimes and thinks that whatever blanket Ava is wrapped up in is his so the sharing thing is also a work in progress. 

Jayden has started doing things to mimic how we take care of Ava which is super adorable. For example, the last few nights he has slept on the pillow that I usually use to prop up my arm when I feed Ava. He also has been wanting to cuddle with me on my chest, the way I hold Ava a lot of times and of course there are no complaints from me on that one! He also likes to have a blanket to wrap up in and he will either walk around with it wrapped around him or he just wants his blanket laid on him when he's sitting on a chair. He also likes to wrap things up like a baby. The other day he wrapped up his little cloth bird in a diaper insert. It was so cute! He walked around holding it to his chest. So Jayden is definitely observing the way we are taking care of Ava and so far nothing negative has come of it.

We decided to get Jayden a fish last week. It's a beautiful beta fish and Jayden calls it either Grover or Bert. We're not really sure which name to use because he seems to use the names interchangeably, like they mean the same thing. He feeds Grover/Bert two teency pellets twice a day and Grover/Bert's bowl sits up on the counter where Jayden eats his meals so it's been a good distraction for Jayden while we get meals ready. Jayden will set his chin on his hands on the counter and just stare into the bowl watching the fish.

Ava is sick this week which is NO fun at all, of course. She started getting really congested on Monday and got worse through the night. She had a fever this morning (Tuesday) but since she had her two week checkup in the afternoon, they told us to wait to have her seen until her appointment. She has a lot of trouble sleeping though since she is so congested poor thing and is always gagging and choking so that has not been a fun experience. Hopefully this early illness is not a sign of things to come! Jayden was never sick but then again he didn't have an older brother bringing daycare germs home either. I'm just hoping that (1) the breastfeeding will do its job and boost Ava's immune system and (2) any extra illnesses will also boost her immune system so she doesn't get worse illnesses when she has to start daycare.

DJ went back to work on Monday. Monday went fantastic for my first day on my own with Ava and Jayden. Jayden woke up early enough that DJ was able to bathe Jayden while I showered so as far as first days go, it really was perfect. I don't expect every day to go that well but I'm glad it wasn't a miserable experience for a first time. Jayden went to daycare for a few hours and we had a good time that afternoon together. We spent a lot of time watching construction trucks working and cars and buses drive by. 

The days have been absolutely beautiful with the exception of some crazy wind. My outlook on life is so much better and more positive when the days are sunny and warm and when we can spend our hours outside so God is good for giving me these beautiful days! I am loving being a mom of two!

Ava Grace - Photos of Her Birth Day

 Two hours old - getting weighed

 Ava's first bath - she actually seemed to enjoy it!

 Momma and Ava's first picture together - the hat that Ava is wearing is one that the hospital provided. They are knitted by women that donate them to the hospital. I thought it was so cute with the flower!

 Jayden came to the hospital later in the afternoon and wanted to hold Ava right away. He immediately pointed out her "noze" and her "ize" and her ears. And when we told him to hold out his arms so he could hold her, he would hold his arms straight up above his head. All set!

 First family of four photo!

 Ava with Nana Sherry (my mom)

 We got Jayden a gift that he got to open for being a big brother.

 It's a truck! Jayden loves watching the construction trucks work around our neighborhood so we thought this would be the perfect gift.

 "Noze"

 A few more momma and Ava shots before we left the hospital the next day.

 One day old

 All set for her first short car ride home. Notice we made the once boyish car seat as girly as possible without buying a new one. My mom made the car seat cover and then I bought a cover that goes over top the entire seat that is pink and green, which matches the green in the seat.

 Big brother was all set to welcome Ava home!

Another family photo with the shirts that I bought Ava and Jayden off of Etsy.

Ava Grace - Birth Story

My mom decided to come stay with us early last week and I was convinced that she wouldn't have to wait long before Ava would make her appearance. However days went by and I continued feeling about the same - constant contractions but no real signs of anything changing or progressing. On Friday nothing seemed different and if it did, I wouldn't have taken it seriously anyway since there had been so many false alarms up to that point.


On Saturday morning I woke up about 5:30 with my first painful contraction but I wasn't entirely convinced that was what it was so I decided if I had a couple more then it would be reason enough to go to the hospital. Sure enough another wave of pain came and went but I needed to feel one more before I was ready to wake up DJ. After the third one, it was just a little before 6 and I woke up DJ, told him I thought it was probably time and that I was going to shower. I continued to time my contractions and noticed that they were getting stronger. Thankfully they weren't going away as they had in the past and they were anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 minutes apart. I wasn't feeling entirely rushed though because I was still able to function through most of the contractions. Much to DJ and my mom's dismay, I decided I needed to eat something before we headed to the hospital. I think they thought I just needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible! By the time we actually left for the hospital, it was 8:00. Jayden woke up before we left so we were able to get one more family of three photo before we told him that we were headed to the hospital to get Ava. He was more than happy to have a day to spend with Nana.


When we arrived at the hospital, my contractions were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing and breath through them. Thankfully I had completed most of the paperwork when I had gone in at 38 weeks so there were just a few things to do before they monitored the baby. When the nurse checked how much I was dilated I was 6.5 cm and 100% effaced so we knew this was it! That was about an hour after we first got to the hospital. The contractions were getting very painful and I was seriously doubting my decision of a drug free birth. I decided to get in the tub but first they had to draw some blood for a routine blood screening. I sat on the birthing ball while the lady took my blood and I remember thinking what a ridiculous policy it was to take blood from a laboring lady. They're poking me with needles while I'm doing everything I can do to get through each contraction. It was miserable and I hated the position I was in on the ball. 


Once the lady finally finished taking my blood, I had to get in the bed so the nurse could check my cervix before I got into the tub since my contractions were getting so close together. Just moving into the bed was miserable because each movement made me contract and I ended up in the worst position possible to have a contraction. It was so uncomfortable and I couldn't keep the tears from coming. I felt somewhat like I was losing control and that scared me a little since I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the pain if I couldn't get my mind in the right place. When the nurse checked me at that point I was 7.5cm dilated and that really frustrated me because the pain was so bad and I still had 2.5cm to dilate. I started thinking that I didn't have it in me to keep going without an epidural. The nurse suggested getting into the tub to see if that helped first. As I walked to the bathroom, I was having contraction after contraction and I just broke down. I decided I had to have the epidural; I knew I couldn't handle any more pain. I was at my breaking point. However the nurse said it would be a good 15-20 minutes before that could happen so it would be best to still get in the tub and try that out. The only problem was I could barely move from where I was and I started feeling a lot of pressure. We decided it would be best if we got back to the bed so the nurse could check me again. Easier said than done; I kind of remember thinking I wish someone could just carry me to the bed which was literally like 5 steps away.


When the nurse checked me again I had fully dilated and was really feeling the urge to push. The only problem was they had just called the doctor and he wasn't there yet so they were telling me to not push. I had heard that happen to other women before and although I thought it sounded crazy to tell someone not to push, I didn't realize how horrible it was. Making your body do something that it is quite naturally doing on its own is IMPOSSIBLE. I was practically yelling "how do I not push?!?" because they were really making me think that it would be bad to deliver the baby if the doctor wasn't there. Nothing was being done to prepare the bed or the room to deliver the baby and I just kept thinking that I was going to push the baby out right there on the bed. It was a little terrifying and so miserable all at the same time. When the doctor finally came into the room, I have never been so grateful to see anyone in my entire life. I pushed two times and the head was out and then a couple more times to deliver the shoulders and the rest of the baby. And then the doctor held up the most beautiful baby girl that I had ever seen. I will never forget that moment as long as I live.


At this point everything was different then what I had experienced with Jayden. It was so much better since Jayden had to be taken away immediately. I didn't get to hold him till he was about an hour old. But they laid Ava on my chest right away and I just rubbed on her and talked to her and took in the sight of my precious baby. Before that day, I thought I might be grossed out by having a newly birthed baby put on me but I wasn't disgusted or squeamish in the least. I was so happy she was here and it was just the best moment ever. The doctor continued working on me; he delivered the placenta and then had to do another procedure before stitching me up since I had a minor second degree tear. But that part wasn't nearly as bad as my first delivery either since I had Ava in my arms to distract me. 


I was able to start nursing Ava about 45 minutes after she was born and after a few attempts, she latched on and nursed for a good 30 minutes which is a great first feeding. I was so glad that breastfeeding was off to a great start since I had a lot of issues with Jayden when he was born and that continued for weeks.


Overall the entire delivery was extremely better than my first delivery. I was so grateful for that and the fact that I ended up not getting an epidural after all! The last few days have also been a lot better for me physically and emotionally. My body doesn't feel nearly as traumatized as it did with the first and emotionally I'm not nearly as overwhelmed. I feel almost normal actually and the pain from the stitches has been almost non-existent. I am staying on the Motrin religiously but thankfully I haven't even needed anything stronger. I feel so blessed to have had such a great experience and it truly is an answer to my prayers. I had prayed for the delivery and recovery to be just like they happened and I am so grateful that God chose to bless me with such a wonderful past 3 days!