Colt Michael Alexander–A Birth Story

I have been meaning to sit down and write Colt’s birth story for 2 months!  If I don’t do it now, I know I will forget.  The details are already hazy!

Wednesday, June 22nd was the third day of Vacation Bible School for the girls and I.  That morning, we got ready and went to the church like we had every other day that week.  I had a doctor’s appointment at 10:30 am, so I left the girls at church and went.  I had been having regular contractions so often that I felt sure I had to be pretty dilated by this point.  But, no, I was still a 2 and only 50-70% effaced.  I was SO ready to have Colt that I almost cried.  I think the doctor noted my stress and she tried to “stir things up” so labor would start.  She told us if we hadn’t gone into labor that we could come in Friday and she would make it happen.  By the time I left the doctor’s office and picked the girls up from VBS, we were headed out to the parking lot at noon.  On the way to the car, I had a couple very hard contractions.  Even though I had been having tons of contractions the last month and lots of them regular, none of them really hurt.  But this one did.  And so did all of the other contractions that came every 5-8 minutes for the next 4 hours.  By 4:00, I told Craig to come home.  Diana made her way out here to watch the girls.  We arrived at the hospital by 5:00 and signed in.  We had to wait in the waiting room for about 30-45 minutes before they came to get us in the room, and during that time, I paced the hall to keep the contractions coming because if I sat down they sometimes stopped and I was afraid it was false labor.  I did NOT want to be sent home!  My parents were on their way here and I wanted to have this boy TODAY!

So we were put in a room and got evaluated.  The contractions were sporadic and the nurse thought the patterns were consistent with braxton hicks.  Inside I was like, “NO!”  They were so painful!  But they called my doctor and I got admitted.  My blood pressure had been high that morning and the doctor knew he was going to be big.  So I guess she thought it was probably real labor or if not, it needed to be!  I was a 3 when I was first checked not long after we had arrived, and probably around 7:00, a doctor came in to break my water.  She checked me right before and I was a 5, so we told my parents to hurry.  Progress!  And with no pitocin. I got my epidural and got to feeling much better.  But an hour later, 8:00, I was still a 5, so I was afraid I was stalling out.  My parents still were not here, but we told them to take their time.  I really didn’t think he would be here before midnight.  However, an hour later, a little after 9:00, my parents had made it, and I was hurting in a little spot on my belly.  The nurse finally checked me and I was a 10!  5 cm in an hour!  Whoa.

So they hurriedly called the doctor and told me to lay on my side and keep my legs together.  What?!  He was basically crowning and I had to hold him in.  The doctor arrived within 15 minutes I think and seriously, in one push, he was out. 9:41 pm and on a Wednesday!  Something cool…all 3 of our kids were born on Wednesdays!   He was pretty cheesy and had a bruised upper lip and a bruised ear lobe from coming out so fast!  The cord was also around his neck when he first emerged, but Craig said the doctor quickly flipped it off of him and he was fine.  Maybe that was why I had been having so many regular contractions but still no labor!  Anyway, Colt weighed 8 lbs and 9 oz, my biggest baby yet.  The hospital said he was 20 1/4”, but a few days later, my pediatrician measured him at 22”.  I think that was closest to accurate.  He was a long guy.   Praise the Lord for a healthy and beautiful baby boy!  Honestly it was strange to have a boy after having two girls, and it probably took me a day to fully get used to the idea and feel totally bonded to him.  But at a very specific moment on the second day, I told Craig “He’s mine.  I feel so connected to him now.”  People say there’s something about boys and their mamas…I guess I am finding that out!  More to come soon I hope!  Big sisters, coming home, and all that.

My girls…

Life with these two girls is wonderful.  We certainly have our crazy days and plenty of spankings to go around, but the funny, wonderful moments make it all worth it!  Here’s some of what these girls have been up to…

Avery…

Avery has just finished up her first year of homeschooling!  She has done SO well this year!  We did a Pre-K core curriculum, but added on Kindergarten math, K reading, and K language arts.  It was perfect for her.  She is reading awesome for her age.  She can sound out words and decode little story books like a pro.  Her math skills really are amazing.  She learned to tell time on a regular clock, add and subtract double digits without borrowing, figure perimeter (yes!), recognize and name geometrical shapes like sphere, cylinder, etc., and much more.  She worked on handwriting through copywork and learned about periods, question marks, commas, exclamation marks, and even apostrophes.  She wrote some in a journal which I will treasure forever, and lots, lots more.  I am so proud of her hard work and she seemed to enjoy every minute of school!  I can’t wait to get our curriculum for next year! 

Avery is still an awesome big sister.  I know she will be SO helpful once Colt gets here.  She insists on hugging and kissing my belly and saying good night to her baby brother every night.  She prays for Colt’s health and safety every night.  She can be a little bossy to Bailey, but hey, that’s what big sisters do, right?  She is helpful to Bailey when Bailey will let her be.  She is still very obedient and loves to please.  She is so loving toward Craig and I.  She will say things all the time like, “Mommy, I love you all the way to the sky!”  or “Mommy, I love you as far as the moon!”  My favorite is when I look at her during the day for no reason and she’ll give me this sweet little smile and sometimes a wave. 

She took gymnastics all year and once a month, the moms could come in for Watch Day.  She would look over at me a lot and give me a thumbs up and a smile.  She learned so much and even though she was the youngest in her class, I thought she did excellent and knows a lot of gymnast terms that I do not.  She continues to be such a joy and I love watching her learn and grow and hit milestones that I can’t believe she is already reaching.

Bailey…

It’s amazing to see the accomplishments Bailey has made this year since she has turned 2.  She talks like a 3 or 4 year old…probably because she’s always listening to her big sister.  She listens a little, but she talks A LOT!  A while back, she started asking “Why?”  I think that started way earlier than it should have!  And then it turned into “Why because?”  So cute.  She wants to know about everything and is very inquisitive like her sister.  She moved into a big girl bed at the end of April when we got the girls bunk beds since they are now sharing Avery’s room.  She did much better than I thought.  She has only gotten up once that first night, and while she does take longer to fall asleep, she has really done well transitioning from the crib to the bed.  Another huge accomplishment has been her recent decision to pretty much potty train herself!  I would let her sit on the potty anytime she wanted, but she would never go.  I figured I wasn’t going to push it.  With Colt being born soon, I didn’t really want to deal with it honestly, and I just figured we’d tackle it after things calmed down this summer.  But one day a few weeks ago, she sat on the potty and surprised me by actually going!  That was it!  She immediately started doing all of her business in the potty starting that day and has only had one or two small accidents since then!  She has been in big girl panties for a couple of weeks and I couldn’t be more proud of her!  I guess there is one big advantage to my strong-willed girl!

She does continue to be strong-willed and loves to test my limits, but when she’s not doing that, she can be pretty sweet.  When Craig or I spend alone time with her running an errand or playing at home while the others are gone, we always talk later about how good she is when she’s by herself.  She is a joy to talk to and ask questions to.  I love to ask her “Who made you?”  She will say, “God,” and then follow it with, “And God made my fingers, and my eyes, and my legs, and my hiney….”  Oh funny girl!  She still loves to suck on her pointer finger on her right hand when she has her dee-dee, and I am not planning to take that away anytime soon with a new baby right around the corner.  I am hoping this will be another transition that will go easier than expected, but I think she will have a little adjusting to do with not being Mommy’s baby anymore.  I am loving watching her grow up, and can’t wait to see what else God has in store for this family!

Colt’s Nursery and…the belly!

OK Colt…this picture is only for you!  You know how when it’s your first, you want to document every month of your growing belly?  Well, by the 3rd, you don’t want any pictures of yourself.  I mean none.  But I don’t want Colt to feel left out, so just for him…I had Craig take this picture of me.  It’s seriously one of the only ones of this giant belly. 

And here’s the little cowboy nursery…everything finally finished except the mobile over the bed.  Come on Colt…we are ready for you!

Washing the car and the slip and slide!!

Recently the girls got to go outside and wash the van with Daddy (which really means play in your swimsuits while Daddy washes the car!), and afterward they got to get the slip and slide out!  They had a blast on it and it was so fun to watch them!  It has already been pretty hot around here, mid 90’s, so here comes summer!

Even Daddy got in on the action!  Although he didn’t last near as long as the girls.  Diving on your stomach is really meant for kids…it’s painful!

Apparently Bailey thought it was an appropriate time for her rain boots…crazy girl!

Avery’s Lost Tooth

The third week in May, an exciting thing happened in our house!  Avery lost her first tooth!  At her dentist appointment back in April, the hygienist asked Avery and I if she had any loose teeth.  We both said, “No.”  Well after checking her teeth, she informed us that actually both of her bottom teeth were loose!  I was shocked!  I did not expect this until next year at least!  She just turned 5 people!  So that exciting morning while eating eggs, Avery accidentally knocked one out with her fork!  It’s a wonder she didn’t swallow it!  She had been wiggling the loosest one for a while, but I didn’t think it would come out this soon!  So we had to make a tooth fairy pillow that day to put her tooth in and for the tooth fairy to leave the money in.  A lot easier than putting it under the pillow in my opinion.  :)

The tooth fairy left Avery $3 and a note of congratulations!  She was very excited!  The funny thing is, Avery’s friend Chloe lost her first tooth that exact same day!  So now they have holes in their mouths together.  Ha ha!

Isn’t this picture hilarious?

Awana Cubbies

Avery has been a part of our Awana program at church since she turned 4.  The 4 and 5 year olds are called “Cubbies” and she has attended on Wednesday nights, saying her bible verses to earn patches for her vest, and learning lots of bible stories.  A couple weeks ago, all the kids had an award ceremony, and Avery also earned her last patch to complete her vest.  I am so proud of the work she has accomplished!

At the beginning of the awards ceremony, all the kids got to go up on stage to sing.  For the first whole song, Avery just stood there with her tongue in her cheek/lip (which is what she does when she’s embarrassed), but the second two songs, she finally got into it. :)  What is it about your child getting on stage to do anything that makes a mommy get a huge lump in her throat and tears in her eyes?

The Cubbies lined up on the step as each one got their award.

This is Mr. Smith…an older man in our church who helps with Cubbies every week.  He is so sweet and the kids adore him!

Avery with our Cubbies leader, Mrs. Angie.  Avery loves her!  Here is her totally completed vest!  Way to go Avery!

Baby Shower for Colt

After MUCH deliberation, we decided to name our little guy Colt Michael Alexander.  Craig’s dad actually suggested the name a while back and it kept coming back up until we decided to go with it.  So Grandpa gets credit for Colt’s name.  My dad’s name is Michael, so that’s where the middle name comes from.  Therefore, Grandpa and Pop both have ties to their grandson’s name.  I love it.  In the middle of May, some of my sweet friends threw me a baby shower for Colt.  It was so weird getting boy things!  All we know around here is bows, frills, and pink and purple, so it has been kind of nice to have a change!  The nursery is done in a cowboy theme, so that’s the theme the shower was in.  It was adorable!!  From the awesome cake to the super cute diaper cake, to the jars we drank out of, everything went perfectly with the little cowboy theme.  Thanks to my sweet friends (and sister-in-law) for making this a special day!

Most of the Hostesses

Grandmas, an aunt, and a big sister who got the privilege of coming since it was during little sister’s naptime.

This is the AMAZING quilt that my mom made for Colt.  I absolutely love it and it’s big enough to be his bedding when he moves to a twin size bed!  Thanks so much Nona! 

Easter 2011

Beware, this is a huge post. 

Easter festivities began with our church having a community wide egg hunt.  We usually join the big one in Jenks that is put on by another church in town, but this year, having a new facility and trying to do a lot of community outreach, we had our own!  There were TONS of people there despite the rain which forced us to move it inside.  Oh well, the kids still had fun!  There were games and inflatables, and of course candy-filled eggs!  AND LOTS!

Had to put the above picture in there…it’s hard to see, but I wanted to document this rare moment of Bailey letting Avery hold her hand.  So sweet.  I love it!

They broke the kids up by age groups and let them fill their baskets with as many eggs as they could carry!  It was crazy how many eggs were there.

Avery stuffed as many eggs in as she could!

I had to take a picture of her by her Pre-K Sunday School class.  Her class was so big that they outgrew the preschool area and got moved upstairs with the K-6th graders!  And they had to split the PreK into two different classes by last name.  Insane!  There were like almost 30 Pre-K kids in there at times.  She loves going to church and asks frequently how many days until church day. 

Later that night, we dyed Easter eggs.  I am not a fan of this at all, but I hate to rob my kids of the fun because they love it.  Here are some silly pictures from this activity.  For some reason, Bailey was in a VERY silly mood!

I think it was later that night or maybe the night of Easter that Avery and I went through the resurrection eggs where I tell her every part of the story of Jesus being crucified and rising from the dead.  She is so smart and is able to tell me pretty much the whole story herself.  I am always amazed at what she retains and is able to retell me later.  Even a year later!

Here are the girls getting their Easter baskets on Easter morning.  We do not do the Easter bunny around here.  I just feel like this holiday is too important to our salvation (well, hello, the whole reason for our salvation!) to throw a big bunny in the mix!  There are enough distractions as it is.  So they know that getting a basket with a few presents in it on Easter is celebrating that Jesus is alive!  These pictures are pretty bad, but they each got a new plate, water bottle, a notebook and new markers/crayons, and a new chair each for outside.  No more fighting over the one falling-apart kid-sized chair that we had out there!

After getting ready, we went for some family pics…oh the joys of trying to get a family pic with a camera using the timer and a half-broken tri-pod!  Fun times I tell ya.