Paxton's Arrival

We have a new little boy in the family: Paxton Lee.  He arrived Thursday at 10:10 PM.  Ashley's still in the hospital and I'm taking care of the other two so neither of us have been able to write a respectable blog post on it, but here are some early pictures. 

Ashley allowed me to take some pictures of early contractions (not so much the later ones).  She has really good concentration skills when it comes to labor

I'll skip to the end in our birth narrative now.  Labor was ok, though.  It was about 5 hours with about 15 minutes of pushing at the end.  Pretty reasonable, we thought.

This was seconds after Paxton came out, before they took him to the table to clean up and check, I believe.  He wasn't really that happy at first.

And of course the obligatory naked table shot.  I can tell you he was not born eager to open his eyes.

Although he was a very large baby, larger than Elliot, our initial impression of him was that he looks pretty small.  His head and chest look significantly smaller than Elliot's did when he was born--Elliot's head was enormous and very round.  Paxton is noticeably longer overall, though. Hopefully that means he will buck the Farnsworth trend and achieve an average height as an adult.

He's got a good start in terms of weight.  As you can see, he topped 9 pounds 7 ounces from the start.

I was very happy and proud.  Labor is always a tough and stressful time (especially when you go really late and have to be induced) but on your third time around it's a lot easier to worry less about impending possible death and easier to focus on the beautiful little baby joining your family.  By the way, that hat was just real loose--he wasn't born with any cone-head issues.

Many of Paxton's early pictures have this sort of look

Like he's not really all that impressed with the outside world.  He was expecting much, much better, I guess.

He's much more cheerful while sleeping.

Actually he's been a champion sleeper so far.  Not too much into the crying either.  It's quite early to tell, of course, but we have all sorts of fingers and toes crossed that he will continue to be a laid back baby and a good sleeper.

We are super happy and excited to move to this next phase of our lives

Friday I was able to bring Kendra and Elliot to meet their new little brother.

They were both incredibly excited to see him. 

They both wanted to hold him and we had to use significant force to pull him out of Elliot's loving arms.

We didn't get as many pictures of Kendra holding him that afternoon, but we will later because she is very eager to do so.

We got a video of the introduction, in fact.

And we got Elliot's turn too

We're just really happy right now. :)

Safety first (again)!

We're still very concerned about bicycle safety in our house...

 

And we're still pretty cute doing it, just in my humble opinion.

WIN

When Kendra became a toddler, I became an exclusive user of family restrooms when they're available and handicapped stalls when they're not (I was at the store by myself a few days ago and was blown over to realize I could just walk right into a regular stall in the regular restroom without any need to stress at all).

The Wal-Mart we frequented when we lived in Chicago had a pretty awesome family restroom because there was even an itty bitty little toilet for kids in there.  Sometimes I sat Kendra down on it (fully clothed because she was less than 18 months old, but it kept her from playing in the toilet water).  I have to bring our cart in with us to the family restroom at the Wal-Mart here because if I don't set Elliot in it to keep him off the floor, I definitely need it to barricade the door so that Kendra doesn't pull on the handle, thus unlocking the door and allowing someone to barge in on us while I'm sitting helplessly on the toilet several meters out of arm's reach (which I learned from experience--luckily she's better about that now but Elliot is starting to reach for handles at home so I don't want to give him the chance in the store).

But in the handicapped stall in the regular restroom at the front of the store and in other places, there are these beautiful puppies:

That, my friends is a little fold-down seat screwed into the wall to literally strap a little tushie into while you use the toilet.

I think it's brilliant.

I think I want one in my own bathroom.

I wish there was a federal regulation requiring at least one of these in every single family restroom and handicapped stall in the country.

I hope the person who thought this up is currently a millionaire billionaire and should get a Nobel Prize because this is an amazing contribution to the betterment of humanity.

Sibling Prep Class

It turns out the hospital in town not only offers childbirth education classes for expecting parents, but there's a whole slew of other stuff in the subject they offer, including a class for older siblings to participate in.

We utilized having family in town and invited Stephanie to come with us, it was really fun!

After a craft, the instructor showed the children how "tall" an average baby is when its born and then measured all the kids to compare.

Then they gave each child a baby doll and taught them that they could help their parents with bathing, dressing and diapering the baby.

Even though Elliot wasn't signed up for the class, he kept grabbing any doll that was left unattended so the sweet assistant gave him one of his own to play with.

Both of the girls were very into caring for the dolls, it was pretty sweet.  Stephanie is the youngest in her family and she was great in her role of being an older sibling for a morning!  It was so nice having her join us.

These girls are official pros and ready to be a Big Sister and Big Cousin, respectively.  We just need a baby to get here!

Today was my due date.  Not that I noticed or anything.

The Climber

Recently, Elliot has started demonstrating developments and behaviors that have made me a lot less nervous about bringing a new baby home (whenever that happens).  The relief has been very, very great as we've finally found a sippy cup he'll take on his own and empty and finally tossed the bottles, and as he's gained enough mobility to walk from our car to our door when I set him down on his feet as I unload him (Kendra even holds his hand and guides him there if he starts taking off in the wrong direction) and other such things.

Shew!

However, he's also picking up a thing or two that make me nervous at the same time.

Maybe you're wondering what the big deal is with this picture.  He's sitting on a chair, so what?  It's not that he's on the chair, it's that we didn't put him there.  Elliot started demonstrating a few months ago that he is very, very interested in climbing, which is why we also have pictures like this:

And this:

And this:

There was even one Sunday afternoon at the beginning of the summer before any of these pictures were taken when we found him on our bed and we hadn't put him there.

So now hopefully I can keep my wits about me enough to remember that we do not leave things on the table that will lead to certain death (or messy spills) because anything I set there can totally be accessed by Elliot.  I'm not going to bother trying to keep him away from the chairs, though there has been a time or two I've just turned all our chairs on their sides so I don't have to worry about what he can gain access to by climbing to the table.  Though I do draw the line at letting him stand on the table itself.

I'm a little nervous, I'm not gonna lie.  I don't remember Kendra being this...enthusiastically vertical.

Stationary or climbing, though, he's a sweet little guy.

Artichokes!

Whenever I ask for Grant's input of what to buy when I consider to ask him before I head to the grocery store, almost 100% of the time he replies, "Artichokes!"  I think they're his favorite food.

And he doesn't mind teaching his posterity the ways of the Force and introducing them to the Awesome that is an artichoke...

Deeeelicious!

The Snuggly Baby

I've mentioned several times that Kendra is much, much more independent than Elliot has been.

Sometimes that manifests itself in sort of draining ways...ways that I feel like make me a better mother, but also a more tired one.  Like how much more of my time I've spent on the floor with him, not getting other things done or how much more of my time I've spent holding him in my arms or in a carrier so I can get things done.

But one way it's always, always been true and that I don't mind at all is how snuggly he is, and that has been so very sweet.  Kendra is loving and kind, but not snuggly.  She gives affection, but in flashes, not for extended periods of time.

Not Elliot.

He didn't really, really start sleeping through the night until he was 10 months old (we kept getting spurts but then regression until then), which was exhausting.  But the last few months, he didn't need to be fed at all.  He would easily go back to sleep if he was just held and soothed for a couple of minutes, but you did have to go do it.

Which means I've spent a lot of time in his life like this:

I just pull him into my arms and he sinks his head onto my shoulder.  And I love it.  I often start singing a particular lullaby to him also, and the song is so attached to this embrace that if I pick him up and start singing it, he'll just lay his head on my shoulder automatically (if he's actually tired, so I only try it if I think he is).

It's been a lot harder to snuggle him this last trimester but he's no less enthusiastic for it.

And I'm okay with that.  In fact, I love it.  While I'm still scared of that crazy newborn phase this baby will bring, I'm really looking forward to having a vacant belly so that I can properly snuggle Elliot again.

I love having a snuggly baby and I intend to savor it while it lasts.