Happy 8th Birthday, Lily!

Holy moly, Lily is 8! Today, I let her sleep as late as possible before school, and I presented her with a new shirt with a pug on it to wear to school. One perk to a weekday birthday is that Lily was in an insanely good mood for 7 am. At lunch, Parker and I took Lily Subway, upon request, and we brought Hello Kitty cupcakes for her class.

Lily is still waiting on her dad to get home so she can open her presents and go out to dinner. We are planning Lily's birthday party for the 30th, so she still has to wait 10 more days to have her big celebration.

Happy One Month, Easten!

How in the world is he already one month old? I say that every time. But seriously, babies really aren't babies for long. The other day, Parker looked SO old to me. His baby face was totally replaced by a serious "kid" face. But I digress.

At one month old, Easten still seems to retain much of his newborn self. He sleeps most of the time, and he is awake for short increments, where he likes to stare at you and be held. He's very laid back, but he is a little bit rotten already. I have a habit of raising rotten little boys who love their mama, what can I say? He really has no use for the bouncy seat or swing. He prefers to be held, or laid down on his belly. He is almost too big for all his newborn clothes. His newborn diapers are fitting very well now, but he is a heavy wetter, so they often leak, which is super frustrating. I see buying some hemp inserts in our future.

Easten eats when he's hungry. He's not very predictable on feeding times or naps, but unlike with Parker, I could really care less. He doesn't mind a pumped bottle of booby milk if he has to have one either. He has no use for a paci and doesn't like to be swaddled either. He wakes up once or twice a night to nurse and get his diaper changed. He likes to sneak into bed with us, and I usually let him. He's still sleeping in our room in his little bassinet. He's fine in the carseat, as long as we are moving, and he loves to be worn in the Moby Wrap. Now that its cooler, hopefully we will sweat less.

All the kids love their little brother. If we leave the house, Parker asks, "Baby go too?"

Oh, and the big boy weighs around 9 pounds. I held him on our scale yesterday, and then weighed myself to figure out the difference. Voila!

Out of Order: Parker Turns Two

On June 28, 2012, Parker turned two. We celebrated with a small family party. Lily helped make him a cake. He got a Red Rider scooter, which he absolutely loves! He is talking up a storm. He is actually very goofy and loves to joke. He is still a huge mama's boy but also a daddy's boy. He adores his big sister to the moon and back and hates it when she leaves him for any reason. He loves dinosaurs, trucks, cars, stuffed animals, coloring, anything on Disney Jr., and he still loves balls. I can't believe he is two!!

Back to School 2012

Here are some month old images of Lily starting second grade. Second grade has been great so far. I already feel like she is learning lots. She has also started back playing softball. She has plans for horseback riding this fall, and she wants to learn to play the guitar. I love my creative little girl!

Here is my sweet girl on her first day:

Here is Lily and Parker in one of her back to school pictures by Julianna Grey Photography.

Welcome Easten Ford!

How many attempts to keep this blog going? I'm not quite sure yet. I really want to remember everything about my little ones, but I just get so busy with life and kids and everything that blogging is left on the back burner. I love looking back at all the exciting things we do and watching my children go, so here I go AGAIN.

In some very exciting news, I gave birth three weeks ago to a sweet little boy named Easten Ford. Lily and Parker are proud to be a big sister and a big brother to this sweet little guy. Life has taken some adjusting, but we are doing great and slowly getting back in the swing of things. I really had absolutely no clue if I was having a boy or a girl. It's been fun to have Easten wearing Parker's hand me downs. It's also pretty cool the boys will be so close in age and be best friends (hopefully). Also, Lily gets to stay the little princess of the family.

My c-section was scheduled for August 15 at 10 am. We dropped Lily off at Shane's parents to go to school, and we took Parker to his sweet baby sitter. We arrived at the hospital around 8 am... I was nervous, hungry, and thirsty! Everything seemed pretty much routine. My IV was a breeze. The spinal was actually sort of uncomfortable for me, but it quickly took effect. I was pretty nervous, as usual, but I kept praying and remained fairly calm and collected. Shane meanwhile was online shopping for a phone case right before the surgery! Shane is such a rock for me though. He held my hand and watched the whole procedure and made sure I was ok. When Easten came out, Shane got to announce, "It's a boy!" The OB and the nurses and everyone loved that we were having a surprise baby! Shane also got to cut the cord for the first time (no other doctors had ever let him during a c-section).

Unfortunately, right after he was born, Easten was grunting and struggling to breath. I tried nursing him in recovery once, but he didn't really latch, but the nurse showed me how to drip the colostrum into his mouth. His first feeding was a bit odd, but I'm glad he still had Mommy milk. Easten spent about 24 hours in the NICU working on his breathing, but he has been safe and healthy every since. He came back to my room the next day. I had already gotten up, used the bathroom, had a shower, and walked around. Talk about a much easier recovery! Cobb Hospital has you moving pretty quick, but I think it was for the best! Also, I have to add a funny story: my first shower after my c-section, and Parker just HAD to get in with mommy. You know you're a mother when you're in the hospital, and your two year old won't let you shower in peace. hehehe!

My mother stayed the whole time and was an absolute godsend. She was running pumped milk to the NICU for Easten at 2 am. Seriously. That's how amazing she was. Shane spent the night with the big kids at home, but he arrived early each morning with Starbucks for me and my mama. Our knight in shining armor! The whole hospital trip was sort of a blur, and luckily, after 48 hours, the amazing on call pediatrician said Easten's x-rays, blood tests, and breathing was good to go, and he was released!

He breastfeeds like a champ and is perfectly content. He loves to be held, I will say that. He especially loves sleeping with Mom and Dad, and he hates his bassinet. He's an amazing car rider. He seems a bit more laid back than his big brother. But, I also have to add, Parker has done amazingly with his little brother! He loves him to the moon and back, and his jealousy has been very minimal.

Here are some amazing photos of my little boy. I love our complete little family of 5!