Memorial Day weekend

We headed to Delphos for Memorial Day weekend. Here Sydney is passing the time by reading her Dora books! It makes me so proud to see her flip through her books and actually pass time by "reading" them. She looks so grown up!

Playing in Papa Rod's boat with Dad. Here she is with her worm for her princess fishing pole!


Here's Sydney's first fat lip! I'm sure I'll see a lot more of these once Gavin gets older--yikes. (I swear I am going to need anti-anxiety meds! I can't stand to see my children hurt but I don't want to be a helicopter parent either!)

Playdate with friends!

A couple of weeks ago we headed to Topeka to play with our friends Tiffany, Noah, and Lily. We also played with Tiffany's niece, Akadia. It was SO hot outside, but that didn't stop the kids from running themselves ragged around the park! We first met at Tiffany's house so I could feed Gavin--as we were pulling up to their house Gavin was fussing and I heard Sydney tell him (without taking her eyes off of her movie of course) "it's okay Gavin-we're almost to Noah's house." She's such a good big sister. :) Then she started to tell him about playing with Noah's Diego toys (good memory!) Once we got to Noah's house she knew exactly where to find them, but I kept telling her she needed to wait on Noah to get them out-he tried giving her a pen but she pointed to the green basket that housed the Diego toys and said "no Noah, that one." Stinker! Of course all along Tiffany was telling me she didn't care if she got them out--but I didn't want her to be "that" kid that just plopped in and rummaged through everything! :) After Gavin was done eating, finally, we headed to the park. We packed a picnic lunch and then let the kids run around. Sydney loves Tiffany--in fact she wanted her to go down the slide with her and to push her on the swing more than me!

Sydney and her friends Tiffany and Lily
It was Gavin's first play date! Here he is with his friend Lily!
Our big boy :)

Sip 'n See!

My wonderful friend Tiffany and wonderful sister Bailey threw us a sip'n see on May 1st. My grandma and cousins Traci, Erin, and her baby Brooklynn made the long trip to come celebrate with us. We also had a few other friends drop in to celebrate. Here are some pictures from the day!

the table of goodies!

the amazing diaper cake made by Tiffany!

just one of the many pictures of Sydney and her buddy Noah :)

Beautiful baby Brooklynn!

Sydney, always such a lady, enjoying the cupcake :)

I feel so blessed to have such a great friend and sister who would take so much time and effort to celebrate the birth of our little guy. I am also so incredibly grateful to our family who made the trip to spend the day with us---it meant so very much to us! Thank you!

Happy 1 month birthday Gavin!

Oh my it's been awhile since I have posted! Yesterday marked the day that we now officially have a one month old in our house. :) Gavin is such a sweet little guy, we just love him to pieces! Here are a few pictures of him!



Some things Gavin is up to now:

• we see his bright eyes more and more during the day!
• he is a wiggle worm! He is always trying to hold his head up and look around. Makes burping a chore that's for sure--I need just one more hand!
• last few nights he has slept anywhere from 4 to 6 hours between his last feeding of the night--I feel like a new woman when I wake up after that stretch! :) (hope I didn't just jinx us!)
• we have caught a few smiles over the last few days as well--some of them were dream smiles but they count for me!
  

Sydney and Gavin

It has been such a joyful experience watching Sydney interact with her little brother. She is VERY proud of him and always enjoys chattering to him and singing to him. Also, she gets very tempted to touch him all the time. She'll take one finger and touch his cheek or his hand, real quickly, then look at us to see if we "caught" her. :) She is always very gentle with him and even likes to "pet" his head---so sweet. It just warms my heart to see her love him so much! Here are just a few pictures from our first week home with our new little guy. :)

Gavin's view of his silly sister

Having another conversation

Checking each other out :)

Bright eyes!

Introducing...Gavin Joseph!

At 7:44 on Saturday morning, April 3rd, we were blessed with a healthy and handsome baby boy! Gavin Joseph entered the world after almost 8 hours of labor...here's the story!

All last week I had been having cramps and contractions, when I had gone to the doctor on Tuesday I was dilated to 2 cm. The cramps and contractions continued throughout the week, off and on. Thursday was my last day of school and we got to spend Friday together as a family of 3. We decorated Easter eggs and played outside and just enjoyed our time together! I had been writing down my contractions and only ever got up to 4 in an hour--dr. wanted me to call when I had had 6 in an hour. So that night we went to bed around 10:30-11:00 and I woke up right before midnight to go to the bathroom. When I got back to bed I noticed I was quite uncomfortable and having some strong contractions (which felt like cramps which felt like the contractions I remember having with Sydney when I was in the hospital--not the "tightness of the belly" I had been told to look for.) Anyhow I had 5 of those contractions in 25 minutes....that was when we decided to head to the hospital. Hoping and praying it was not a false alarm, we called a friend to come over and sit with Sydney until Bailey could get there. I would have felt SO bad if I would have been wrong!

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 3 and the contractions were closer together, 2-3 minutes apart. They admitted me and started pitocin, which really jump started the contractions even more! The anesthesiologist came and inserted the epidural--it was a much different experience than when I got one for Sydney. This guy had to try 3 different times and it took him about 30 minutes as opposed to maybe 10 minutes in my first experience. Not long after I got my epidural I started feeling light-headed and woozy---my blood pressure was dropping after getting the epidural so they had to lessen the dose until I felt normal again. Which of course meant that I got to feel more too! I dilated one centimeter per hour until I got to a 7, which was when the doctor came in to break my water. After he broke my water I could tell I progressed quickly--sure enough in less than 30 minutes I had gone from a 7 to a 9! I was at a 9 for awhile and the contractions by that time were very intense. I was actually relieved to finally reach 10 cm and get to push! Once the doctor arrived and I got the 'go ahead' things moved really quickly. In just a few pushes his head was out and the nurse said "okay, last time to take a guess--boy or girl?" I said "boy"--and then I got to meet him! :) Our beautiful, 8 lb. 20 inch long son was born at 7:44 in the morning.

Our experience after his birth was a wonderfully relaxing one compared to his big sister's and it was a very welcomed switch!!

Welcome to the world little man!

First bath

Syd meeting Gavin!

Easter festivities!

Something I have been worried about this year with our new baby on the way is that Sydney won't get an Easter experience...church, the eggs, etc. The secretary at my school had suggested a church in town that has Easter activities, including an Easter egg hunt, the weekend before Easter. So we went there yesterday morning. It took Sydney awhile to get the hang of it but she found quite a few eggs!

Sydney and Dad--it was a little breezy and chilly!

After the "hunt" we went to the sanctuary of the church where there was a puppet show explaining the true meaning of Easter. Fortunately for us, one of the puppets was a Princess (Syd's new infatuation) and another was a donkey (she loves any animals!). It was a great puppet show and really held her attention!



Next we went to the arts and crafts area where Sydney and Daddy colored a butterfly to represent new life by following and loving God.
Our last station was the games! Sydney and Daddy got to play Duck-Duck-Goose (much to Joe's dismay :) ) and then I took a turn playing an egg relay game with Sydney. She had such a good time!
Last but not least--she wanted to "drive" the huge (albeit kind of creepy) bunnies in front of the entrance.

Happy Easter everyone!