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!

A Note on Not Knowing

I can't believe that in about 6 weeks, I will finally find out who's hiding in my belly. I love all the people who, with 100% confidence, tell me if I'm having a boy or a girl. My dad says girl, my mom says boy, all the ladies at the nail salon say boy, Shane's aunt and uncle say girl, you get the picture. Sadly, I really have no clue myself. Shane and I have pretty much decided on both a boy name and a girl name. Sometimes I try to change it, but then we take a family vote and we come back to the same name. Lily loves putting her two cents in! I can't reveal the names in total confidence, but I think we are pretty much set. I kind of like keeping the names a secret, but I have already told a handful of people, so they aren't really a secret. Can I tell you some of my favorite names that I really pulled for but got thrown OFF the list? For a boy, Shane vetoed both Sawyer and Wylder. I still love Sawyer, and I tried it again yesterday, but I lost with the democratic vote. I do like our other boy name too, and it goes really well with Lily and Parker. I still have to decide how to spell it though. For a girl, the only other name we BOTH liked was Delaney, which we still like, but Shane likes the other girl name better. For the record, I think girl names are REALLY hard. I love hearing unique girl names!

I've gone 32 weeks and 5 days without knowing. If this had been my first pregnancy, I think it would have been much harder. Pregnancy is measured in weeks, and many of those weeks come with milestones. 14 weeks is the second trimester, 19-20 weeks is the gender ultrasound, anytime after 30 weeks you usually have a baby shower, and then you have to buy everything you didn't get at the said shower. This time around, it's been pretty quiet! If I have a boy, all I'll need to do is open up the storage boxes containing Parker's baby clothes, enough outfits to clothe twins! If I have a girl, then I WILL have to hit up the stores for pretty much all clothes. So, its' been the waiting game for sure. As of now, I have enough newborn clothes to make it through until I am able to drive again. I have tie dyed onesies, and I have some yellow and white things as well. I thought I had purchased a gender neutral coming home outfit from Gymboree, but after a Facebook poll, I am now convinced its rather boyish. Luckily, I have a friend with a baby due in September who IS a boy, and she will be receiving an insanely adorable outfit if my baby is a little lady. And Target is just across the street from the hospital, so hopefully we can trust Shane to pick out a cute newborn pink something.

Nevertheless, I think it will be very exciting for the OB to announce, "It's a....!" I am giddy over meeting my third baby. Most importantly, I have all 36 newborn and small diapers prepped and ready to go! Even though they are all gender neutral, they will just be so insanely adorable (and you can bet I will purchase some bigger pink fluff if I do have a girl. I mean, come on!)

So bear with me, only 6 weeks and 2 days to go.

An Update on Life in General

Honestly, I've just been enjoying my life too much to blog. I will try to update as best I can.

Lily finished up first grade, and summer officially started. We kicked off summer by visiting Panama City Beach for a week. The kids had an absolute blast at the beach and the pool. It was a really relaxing vacation, and I actually felt great with the breeze from the beach. I'm not sure that we'll visit Panama City again next year. There are lots of other places we want to try, and it was quite crowded, but it was still a good experience. We found this great hole in the wall fish market called Buddy's. They had the best steamed shrimp and cheesy red potatoes. Omgoodness. We all came back extremely tan too, which was a nice bonus. And we didn't burn!

The day we got back, we drove up to Gwinnett Place Mall and went to Shane's brother's engagement party at a place called "Purple Rain." It was a traditional Indian engagement party. It was very neat, and the food was spicy but good! It was really nice to have a date night as well. I had a good excuse to wear a cute new maternity maxi dress. I adore Shane's brother's fiance, and I am glad she will be part of the family.

Once we got home, we made a surprise purchase-a new puppy! Yes, we are slightly insane. We now have a 14 week old Rottweiler puppy named Duke. We are still working on potty training, and we need to get him enrolled in an obedience class. The kids love him, and Oscar and him have already become the best of friends, even though they drive me crazy sometimes. He sleeps in his crate a night and seems to like it, which is a good sign. The first night was a bit rough. My main thing regarding Duke is that he not only become a beloved member of the family, but being such a big dog, he must, must, must be extremely obedient and well mannered. Shane and I have plenty of work ahead of us.

Lily just got back from a week long trip to stay with my dad in New Jersey. Parker and I missed her terribly. She had so much fun with my stepsister, Victoria, and my sister Lacey. They visited the pool, did lots of shopping, and went to see Madagascar 3. My dad flew her home yesterday, and he stayed with us and left this morning. It's always fun for him to come in town, and he surprised me by telling me he would be back for my birthday.

Parker turned two yesterday! Can you even believe it? He is loving scooting around on his new Radio Flyer Scooter! Thank goodness for hardwood floors because it has been over 100 outside today. We took him to Mellow Mushroom last night, and then we bought a bunch of cupcakes from the Flour Child Bakery. My big boy is talking like a little man, but he still has no interest in the potty. He's been off the boob for almost 3 months, and if I think about him nursing now, it seems almost funny! (But of course I would have still done it.) He gives my belly a kiss and says there is a baby in there, so we will see how well everything goes in the upcoming months. I think he will eventually be a great big brother.

What else... I'm thinking of random things. I'm 32 weeks...my c-section is scheduled for August 15th at 10 am. Our chickens still aren't laying eggs, but we are hoping in a few more weeks. We have two new pet turtles in an aquarium. Our garden has been fairly neglected, and the heat is killing off our plants. Parker attended his first Vacation Bible School last week, and he had fun! Shane and I totally took advantage of three nights with no kids. We ate out every night and went shopping.

Hopefully I will be back sooner rather than later!

26 weeks!

98 days or less til we meet Little Mahaffey #3.

I am still feeling really great. I have had a decent amount of energy, and I have nested some. Mostly, I have been deep cleaning our entire home and my van due to our recent bout with scabies. We noticed bumps and bites on all four of us on Mother's Day, and our pedi is suggesting it is scabies. Don't let the Google images scare you, ours is not nearly as severe. Lily has it the worst. The pedi thinks she picked it up from another kid at school or church. Parker is second worse, and then Shane, and then me. We have all washed in the medicated body wash, and I have washed so many sheets and blankets and vacuumed so many rugs, pillows, carpet, and mattresses that I can't even believe it. Let's hope they are gone!!

So, anyways, I haven't gained much weight since my appointment three weeks ago, so if I can hold off one more week, my midwife hopefully will not fuss. But how can you fuss at a pregnant lady taking her glucose test, right? That fun comes next Friday. Luckily, Parker will be at his babysitters, and I plan to hit Starbucks or somewhere equally delicious after my appointment.

Everything is going well. I still haven't done much baby preparing, but I do have some time. Once we get back from our beach trip, I will slowly pull out and clean and prepare all our baby equipment. I still need to purchase a pack and play. And I'm waiting on 12 more newborn diapers...which I believe are about to be shipped.

How far along? 26 weeks
Maternity clothes? I need longer maternity shirts... and a great dress for an engagement party
Stretch marks? No new ones yet
Sleep: Pretty great.
Best moment this week: Less than 100 days to go!
Miss Anything? Moving with ease. I always feel so sluggish with this extra weight
Movement: Lots of little kicks and jabs, especially at night
Food cravings: Avoiding fried food, craving fresh veggies and salad.. but then eating way too much dessert almost nightly. GUILTY.
Food aversions: Lots of meat, but I did eat a chicken burrito today. Anything greasy and fried sounds gross.
Gender: Unknown for 13 more weeks
Labor Signs: n/a
Symptoms: My headaches have pretty much gone away, but I occasionally get a sharp pain on my left side. And I still think I am stretching and growing every now and then because I'll cramp.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On and off... depends on how hot I am
Looking forward to: My third trimester, and my beach trip!

A Look at My Goals

I just found my "2012" goals on an old blog post from December of 2011. Since we are about 5 months into 2012, let's take a look at some of my planned goals.

Our Family 2012 Goals:
1. Make all our cleaning products-check! I have done this. I have also made hand soap, bug spray, dish wash detergent, and I am still considering making laundry detergent. I tried homemade toothpaste, but it wasn't a huge hit.

2. Obtain our own chickens-check! I have had chickens for over 2 months now, and they are growing every day. Still waiting on our eggs :)

3. Have a garden this spring-check! This is Shane's project, but I did help pick out the veggies. He is taking great care of our little garden, and I can't wait for some fresh veggies!

4. Eliminate fried foods-no dice. Pregnant=Chik Fil A at least once a week. But I haven't ate red meat in over a year, so no nasty McDonalds or Burger King, blech!

5. Use less than one roll of paper towels a week-check! I usually forget to buy them, so even if I only use one every 2 weeks, we might go another week without. I use lots of hand towels and rags now that I've built up a big stash of those, and I have so many that I constantly pull out a new one to stop the spread of germs. They do a better job too.

Personal Goals:
1. Give yoga a shot. -nope
2. Drink more water.-always need to drink more
3. Stay home more, drive less.-easier now that I am preggo
4. Visit the park at LEAST bi-weekly. -sorry kids!
5. Walk three mornings a week. -nope
6. Will myself to have more patience with my children.-always a work in progress
7. Read more. -I read the Hunger Games Trilogy, ready to read something new.

So there's my little update. I'm anxious to get working on some of these goals!!

24 Week Bellyshot

I noticed my last belly shot was 20 weeks, so here I am at 24 weeks and give or take a few days. I am feeling big, and it seems like so many people are noticing my big belly. Also, my legs and arms are getting nicely tan, but you'll have to excuse my ultra white stomach.

24 Weeks Pregnant

Sadly, I don't have any exciting bump pictures to post. My belly is certainly growing. I definitely look 6 months pregnant. I love feeling my little baby kick every day. Lily felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday. I have my glucose test coming up at the end of the month. And then I will be in my third trimester! Yikes. Once we get back from Florida next month, I'll start to get my baby gear ready. I really want to tie dye some onesies. Instead of buying a going home outfit, I'm going to bring a newborn outfit of Lily's and a newborn outfit of Parker's with me to the hospital.

Baby currently has 24 newborn and small diapers, 4 covers, and 12 more newborn diapers on the way from a co-op. Other than the diapers, I haven't bought a thing. I don't really need to. However, if Baby is a girl, she will have to gear up for a shopping trip for pink onesies, ballet slipper socks, and hair bows. It's been a long time since I had a baby girl, and my 7 year old baby girl will barely let me fix her hair, let alone dress her up.

How far along? 24 weeks
How big is baby? About a pound, and as long as an ear of corn
Weight gain? Must we? I got a verbal warning from my MW on gaining too much weight. Looks like I might gain just as much as I did with Parker (I gained 40 with Lily, and I gained 50+ with Parker. I'm a gainer!)
Maternity clothes? Absolutely necessary, and my small, cute ones are getting too tight.
Stretchmarks? I have some on my sides from Lily which are very faded, and I have one faded one under my belly button from Parker. I'm using stretch mark cream, but I'm also realistic.
Sleep? Pretty great. Just want more of it!
Breastfeeding? No more. Parker hasn't nursed in a week and a half.
Best moment this week? Letting Lily feel the baby kick.
Movement? Lots, and feeling it on the outside too
Food cravings? Lots of meat makes me feel sickish, as well as greasy fried food, but I am an eating machine right now.
Name? Can't agree on a boys name or a girls name. The battle continues. Just kidding. We really don't even talk about it much... poor kid.
Labor signs? Nada
Belly button in or out? In, my button has never popped out
Rings on or off? On, but feeling tight when I get hot
Morning sickness? No, thank goodness
What I miss: bending over, being thin, an occasional glass of wine, but wouldn't trade this for anything.
What I am looking forward to? Getting my glucose test over with, third trimester, convincing Parker there really is a baby in my belly
Weekly Wisdom? Rest. I've been doing it this week, and it has been heavenly. Ethereal.
Milestones: Baby has been a cooking for 6 months. 4 to go!

Easter 2012

Our little family had a wonderful Easter weekend. On Saturday, we all met up with Shane's grandparents for their annual Easter lunch with his entire extended family. It was very fun and yummy, with tons of delicious casseroles and desserts. Afterwards, I volunteered in the nursery for our church's Saturday night service. We had about 11 babies in the nursery who were pretty much all unusually grumpy, so it was a tough night! However, it is always a pleasure to serve the Lord wherever I can, and I did get to play with my friend's sweet one year old.

This morning, we were up early, checking out Easter baskets and getting ready for church. Both the kids received new giant coloring books, and Parker got a new tee and bat and ball, and Lily was overjoyed to get the Muppet movie, which we are currently watching right now. Then, we headed to an amazing service at our church.

"So I'll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the one who gave it all."

"There is no one higher, no one greater, no one like our God. There is none more able, Christ, our Savior, great and glorious."

I LOOOOVE our church! Have I mentioned how awesome our church is? It was a truly moving and beautiful service this morning.

After church, we hung around with Shane's family and went and ate La Bamba for lunch. We spent the rest of the day at Shane's parents house, and the kids received another Easter basket from Shane's mom. They are stocked up now. I just finished hiding the candy! Then all of the kids had a little Easter egg hunt.

We are now all exhausted at home. Shane threw some turkey burgers on the grill, and Parker was asleep before 730. Tomorrow, Lily goes back to school after a fun but seemingly short spring break.

Belly Shot-20 weeks. The halfway mark!

Kid's Activities and Updates

Spring easily becomes our busiest time of year. Shane is currently on two softball teams, which takes up our Thursday and Friday nights, in Dallas and Acworth, respectively. He joined our church's team this year, and he is also playing with his team made up of coworkers again. Besides that, the kids have been pretty busy as well... and I just try to coordinate, plan, and enjoy everyone's activities!

Lily is playing 8 and under softball at Taylor Farm again this year. Her team is called "The Diamond Darlings" (lol!) She is playing first base, her number is number one, and she is at the top of the batting lineup. So yes, all that talk of #1 has gone to her head! Just kidding. But really, she is playing absolutely wonderfully! She has come so far, and I can't wait to watch her improve even more!

Lily is doing great at school-I don't know if I ever posted about her conference, but she is still exceeding at everything and reading two grade levels ahead. She has got nothing but perfect behavior reports this year too, thank goodness. She is also still participating in her Bible study after school program on Fridays called Beach Club, and her counselor has nothing but great things to say about how much fun she has and how often she speaks up.

Lily has been doing great at church, easily memorizing most of her memory verses. She LOVES Sundays, and she even likes helping us in the nursery with the babies. During Spring Break, she got to go see the Lorax with her BFF Skyler and family, we visited my sister's new apartment and had a ladies lunch out, and she has seriously been the biggest helper ever! Two weeks worth of chore money, and she purchased new pink headphones for her hand me down Ipod.

Parker is turning into such a big boy. He is 21 months old, and is currently sporting a fever for what I believe to be some molars coming in. He has started putting two words together, but that is as close as he has come to sentences so far. Parker started tumbling class about a month ago, and he seems to like walking on the balance beam. Parker also started going to a little in home day care once a week. The lady attends our church, and she keeps two other little boys close to Parker's age. Parker already talks about "Luke" and "Jake." He seems to have so much fun-they play outside every day on the playground, and she has a huge playroom. It has been very nice for both of us to have a little break.

He also still seems like such a little baby. Parker is nowhere near potty learning, and he still likes to nurse on one side to get settled for sleep (although I pretty much have no milk and its rather painful, I haven't totally cut him off yet!) I really don't mind, he can stay a baby as long as he wants! I know how quickly it will all pass. I'm really not worried about washing more diapers when the new baby comes or anything like that. Just because he is going to be a big brother doesn't mean he needs to rush out of sleeping in his crib or instantly start going to preschool. I've never understood that! I still try to dress him in onesies when I can, he he he.

He is still very high maintenance and stubborn, but he is also becoming more goofy and animated. Him and Lily can really act crazy and have so much fun, and all Shane and I do is laugh and laugh.

This weekend is Easter Weekend! We will certainly be busy with family stuff as well as church! Have a great weekend.