Blake loves grandma's kisses, can't you tell? Well, I drove my mom to the airport this past Tuesday...I was nervous, but everything is working out just fine! The hardest part is early in the morning when it seems like Blake wakes up every hour and wants to eat...probably due to the fact that when he eats during those feedings, between 4-6am, I usually fall asleep as he's eating and so does he, so then he wakes up still hungry. Maybe I need to start reading a book or something.

Blake is gaining weight like a champ! He was 9 lbs. 3 oz. at birth and 8 lbs. 10 oz. when we left the hospital. I took him to an appt on Wednesday and he's gained back 4 oz. Won't be long til he's back at his birth weight...which is how much Austin weighed at 2 MONTHS!

Austin and Blake taking turns on the swing. Austin isn't too happy about waiting his turn. :)

He does really well in the swing and it's a great break for me to put him somewhere!

Now he gets his turn!

Austin loves being a big brother. He asks to hold him randomly throughout the day...along with stealing his binky and smothering him with his stuffed animals.

He loves giving him kisses

Yay! We love it when daddy gets home and he can hold him.

So far so good!

Birth Story

It seems to be the thing to do lately...write your birth story. So here it goes...

I went to the hospital 11 days past my due date for an induction at 6 AM in the morning, and positive I was going to have the baby the same day. I was planning a natural birth so I didn't want to start out on pitocin so we had planned on doing a balloon inducement(Not sure what it's even called). Basically they stick a tube up you and fill it with water to put pressure on the cervix and induce you mechanically rather than with medicine. This was in for the first 9 hours and basically felt like one continual cramp. Nothing real painful and I did have a few contractions here and there. The balloon comes out on its own at 4 cm dilation typically. Thankfully when mine came out I was at a 6!!! I felt awesome! We walked the halls for a few hours to try and get things going and I had a few contractions but nothing big. So my doctor came in and broke my water at 8:30 pm. At this point my doula (Estee) showed up and I labored in the bathtub for 4 hours! Having contractions about every 2-3 minutes. I felt like things were progressing great. However, after checking me I had only dilated to a 7 and I was only 70% effaced! What a LET DOWN. My contractions had been strong and I felt like I was relaxing through them.

At that point I was trying to decide what to do. It was about 1 in the morning. I contemplated for a long time it felt like...while everyone was dozing and waiting on me to decide. I sent my doula home at 3 o'clock, Tyler was asleep, and my mom was waiting on me. My doctor came back in at 4 and checked me again and I had not progressed. I could tell my energy was low and I was worried if I got pitocin I would give in to an epidural and not be able to push him out. My mom finally talked me into getting pitocin and they started that at 5 am. My contractions really started to pick up and I had a hard time relaxing. At 6:15 am I was fading fast and took some medication to take the edge off the pain...which ended up helping me snooze between contractions or at least be a bit out of it. I would wake up for the contraction and breathe through it and then I was out for the minute or two in between. just after 8 am I was feeling the INTENSE urge to push! My doula had showed up a few minutes before and my doctor came in to check me and I was FINALLY ready! Oh what joy! I pushed for a half hour and out he came. The doctor says, "Wow, I bet this is a 9 lbs baby!" I'm thinking...you've got to be joking, so we all guessed how much he would be and sure enough he was 9 lbs. 3 oz. What a surprise!!! I'm so glad I was able to push him out as quickly as I did. We're so happy to have Blake finally here with us and I am SOOO grateful for my mom, Tyler, and Estee who helped me stay strong.

More pics to come!

Yes I am still here with no baby. This is me a week and 2 days past my due date. I was really hoping that doing pressure points, taking castor oil, playing Just Dance Wii, and running would help me along, but apparently he is still pretty comfy in there. Well, at least grandma is getting a little vacation in before he comes.

He was so excited to eat corn on the cob for the first time

He got the hang of it real quick

Yay! Grandma is finally here! Austin has enjoyed all the extra attention he's been getting. Especially when grandma goes shopping with us and can't help but buy him a new stuffed animal

So now he has a hard time carrying around all of his favorite stuffed animals around at the same time.

July 8

Tyler and I went to Chick Fil A last night to get a free meal with some friends. If you dress up head to hoof you got a free meal! I will do anything for FREE Chick Fil A! LOVE IT

Happy 4th!

We went to Granbury (30 min. drive) to see their amazing fireworks with another family. The fireworks were awesome and we had a lot of fun. Austin loved hanging out with his pal Hugo. Look at those cheeks!!

Aleni and I waiting for the fireworks to start. She goes walking with me every morning which has been so good for me these last few weeks. However, I am no closer to having this baby than I was 4 weeks ago. The lil' stinker! We eventually had to move off the blanket because we got attacked by ants. That is one thing I dislike about Texas. There are ant hills EVERYWHERE!

And here are the papas!

Fireworks started at 9:40 pm. Austin stayed up and watched the entire show! What a trooper. He sure was zonked the next day!

I love watching fireworks! They had some really awesome ones that I have never witnessed before. Just all these crazy designs coming out. It was pretty awesome.

Another happy 4th of July! I was for sure I would have the baby by now, but I guess he didn't want to be a 4th of July baby. I don't blame him. He wants his own party I guess.