Pictures!

Beware the unexpected!

Baby Marcus is here!  This is where I'm going to record his crazy, unexpected birth story.  I won't be too graphic, don't worry, but if you're not really into "birth stories" you may want to stop reading:-)

Mother's Day this year we decided to take it easy.  We'd celebrated Dave's wedding, (Peter's brother) on Saturday, and by Sunday I was exhausted.  In retrospect I'm glad we took it easy.

Monday morning around 6am I headed to the bathroom yet again.  This time though I thought I'd wet myself; awkward!  In actuality, my water had broken.  I went back to bed, and put it out of my mind.  When I got up a bit later, there was more "water".  I decided that I must have a slow leak, and decided to call my midwives to get their take.  I wasn't having any contractions which worried me a little.  I let Pete know what was up, and we decided to have him go to work.  It seemed that this might be a slow moving labor, ha!  He headed in, and I took the advice of my midwives; do your normal thing.  They said that if I hadn't gone into labor by dinner, they may want to get things going, but that if I had a slow leak it may stop and labor could be days later.  So, I figured I had a long time to wait for this baby.  Boy was I wrong.  I started going about my day.  My sister Joanna was here, because she'd photographed the wedding-this turned out to be a God thing.  We puttered around with Sammy, did chores and such.  Around 9am, I started having some light contractions.  They were very manageable and so I didn't pay them much mind.  I let my midwives know, and they said that today could be the day.  I still wasn't convinced.  I started timing them and let Pete know.  They were around 15 to 20 minutes apart and not very painful.  By 11am, they were getting more intense and closer together, but still manageable.  I let Peter know, and he planned to come home after wrapping up a few projects.  By the time he got home around 12:15 things were feeling like labor.  I was on all fours, draped over the birthing ball, thinking, "this isn't for real, I'm not having a baby today, he's not due until the 26th, but these contractions HURT!"  I had let the midwives know how things were going, and they headed out around 1:30pm.  They were about an hour away.  The next bit is a blur.  The contractions were coming one after another, and they were intense.  Peter kept talking to me and encouraging me.  I remember hearing the LaRocks come and get Sammy probably around 2pm.  Elizabeth, Peter's sister arrived around 2:15 I think.  When the midwives arrived, around 2:30pm they checked my status right away.  I heard them say that they could tell that things were moving fast. Peggy let me know that I was around a 6/7 centimeters and completely effaced; crazy!  She said to go ahead a get in the pool.  Funny, as I stepped in Peter and Joanna put the last pot of hot water in.  I had maybe 4 to 6 contractions in the pool, then, all of the sudden my body started pushing.  One of the midwives came in and said something to Pete, and asked him if I had pushed.  "Yep, I think she did!"  On the next contraction my body pushed in earnest and I felt the head!  I was shocked.  I wanted to tell them, but the next huge contraction came, and no words came out, just a wild yelp/growl/scream sound.:-)  One midwife, reached down, and there was the head.  One push later Marcus was here.  He arrived at 3pm.

Because of the speed of things, I didn't get any pictures of Marcus right after the birth, but he's sure pretty.  Things about him remind me of Sam, and yet he's his own little person.  His hair is lighter-kind of blond/brown with a bit of red.  He's so tiny!  He was 6lb 13oz at birth, and was 19 inches long.  Here are a few pictures of him.  We'll get more up soon!  Everyone is doing well.  God is good, and I am very blessed!

Almost there!

Today marks the end of month 8 for this pregnancy!  I have to admit that I am counting down the days a bit more with this one than I did with Sam which probably isn't good because who knows when he'll decide to show up.  Ah well!  I've been in a lot more pain with this one then I was with Sammy, and I'm very ready to get him out:-)  My hips and back are better, but I still find it hard to walk much at all.  I'm getting around the house fine, but not getting out for walks in this amazing weather is killing me; well not really--being a drama queen here!  I really shouldn't complain.  This pregnancy has gone well, and my little one is growing and he's quite a little kicker.  He's nearly full term now.  Here are a couple of pictures of the tummy.  It's pretty big, I agree.  I'm carrying much like I did with Sammy, which was big, but, I'm measuring normally, and everything seems to be as it should size wise.

It's been a beautiful week so far, and Sam and I have enjoyed playing outside.  He would live out there if I let him.  I suggested a tent today, but he didn't seem very sure about that. :-)

The pictures below are from a little b-day party we had for Sammy on Sunday.  Enjoy!

mmmmm!

Pretty Aunt, and pretty cake!  Thanks, Abby for the cake!

Candles!

Blowin' them.

Our "baby" is two!

Today our little man turns 2!  Time truly does fly.  This little guy has been such a joy.  He's taught me a lot about myself for sure.  God knows what we need, and I've needed this little man, strong will and all, to teach me new things, and to grow me more! :-)

 Here he is at breakfast sporting some awesome hair.  Breakfast time is fun.  We usually get daddy out the door, and then eat together.  He pretty much always reminds me that we need to "pay!" (pray) as he reaches for my hand.  He then ends the prayer with a hearty "amen" and we chat about the day while we eat.  He usually asks about his little buddies, JJ, Joy, and Miles, (neighborhood kids).  He'll want to go outside to play or bye bye in the car.  The he'll sit and talk to me while I clean up.  Lately he's been playing with some shiny beads from our wedding that I recently found.

Awww, I just love his little kissable face.  He's so quick to forgive and love on me when I get angry with him. He likes to be with mommy and get snuggles, although it's getting hard these days with my big tummy.  He snuggles for a few seconds, then it changes to squirming. :-)

I'm so blessed to have been given 2 years with this little booger, and I pray that the next two are even better!

I love you, Samster!

we're heading into month 8!

I think that monthly updates are a little lame, but, hey, at least I update once in a while, right?  Today marks the end of month 7 for this pregnancy, and the beginning of month 8.  I'm really starting to feel pregnant these days, and am having those thoughts of, "2 more months!?"  But, it'll come and go I'm sure:-)  I've thrown out something in my hip which is causing me a lot of pain.  Hopefully my chiropractor can fix it on Monday.  Pete's been in Utah, (will get back tomorrow night) and so dealing with my stubborn nearly 2-year old has been rough.  But, that, too, will soon pass.

This baby is sitting so much like Sammy did.  He's kinda like a basketballmorphingintoawatermelon right now.  His little heels are choosing to kick at the same poor rib Sam liked.

Check out this not so little man!

Lately Sam's been obsessed with his little yellow boots.  I snapped these photos of him in his mismatched glory and had to share.  Little goofball!

Other than that, I'm getting the spring cleaning/baby's coming bug, and I have been finding lots of dirt!

Oh, and, I almost forgot to mention, but we do have a new, used car.  It's a Toyota Corolla, (for anyone who is wondering).  Pete got it from a family in the Chantilly area.  They had several calls for it, (good price, low miles) and when Pete called they asked him why he wanted the car.  He explained that he has a very pregnant wife who would love a car with 4 doors, rather than 2.  It works much better for the car seats.  We got the car!:-)  Thankfully, the Honda sold a few days later.  Minutes after it hit craigslist, Peter had several bites, and it went to the first guy who asked.  God does care about the small and big things for sure.  I just need to remember that and praise Him no matter the circumstance.  I don't have any pictures of the car right now, but I'll try and post some sometime.

Month 6-check

Today we complete month 6, woohoo!  I realize that I still have the 3 largest months left, but the days do seem to be flying by.  I'm starting to tire more easily, and my body has the normal aches and pains of pregnancy, but over all I feel great, and I'm very thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far.  Here is our little man finishing up month 6.  He's VERY active right now.  I feel lots of strong kicks, and can see his little heels.

We're working to transition Sammy over to a big boy bed, (starting with nap time), and the only way to accomplish this is to rock him to sleep.  So far he refuses to stay in the bed.  Most days he will rock to sleep in about 10 to 15 minutes, after we've looked at his truck book (thank you Aunt Jeanette!  That's his favorite!), and any other books he likes.  He most often goes on to sleep when I start singing.  These days when I'm rocking and singing to Sammy, his little brother starts kicking in earnest.  It's really kind of amazing to be holding one child on the outside, and one on the inside.  Those are truly precious times.  I hope to look back and remember them when the chaos of two crazy boys begins!

We've picked up potty training again, and amazingly, this week, Sam was really good about it.  He wore undies all day each day, and only made a few puddles.  I'm still not getting my hopes up very high as this is a process, but it's nice to see that he's starting to get the hang of it.  He's SO cute in his little undies!

In other news, it looks like we're getting new neighbors.  I recently ran into an old friend from my TeenPact days who came out here to school, met and married her husband there, and now lives in Winchester.  To make a long story very short, it looks like they will be moving into Joseph's townhouse in a few weeks!  I'm so excited to have them close.  They have two cutie pie little girls, and it'll be so nice to have a walking buddy, and just a good friend close by.  

We're so looking forward to warm weather!  Sammy is the most best behaved out doors and at the park, and I'm guessing we'll be spending a lot of time there this summer.  I took him to the park last week when we had a random warm day.  He literally ran for almost the full 2 hours we were there.  Folks at the park commented to me about his energy.  He just needs to go go go.

He's all boy that one!

~Julie 

V-day

is really just another day, and I've never really been that into it.  But, for this year I really felt like making a special dinner for my family.  I don't think I've made a "special" dinner at home for us since we got married.  By that I mean a holiday or special occasion meal.  I make dinner all of the time:-p

I intended to get more pictures of the food that I made, and I had visions of much more than this, but once the candles came out, Sam became VERY interested in dinner preparations, and I had a hard time just getting the food on the table.

For the main course I made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas.  Yes, this was a man's meal for sure.  I've never fried anything before, and I had fun trying my hand at it.  I overcooked these a little, but Pete still liked them.:-)

Here's a candid shot of some of the other food.  Like I said, I was just doing my best to get it all on the table while keeping little fingers out of the candles.  The crazy thing with Sam now is, that if I move things out of his reach, he just grabs a kitchen chair and goes to it, ah, good times!

For dessert I made a buttermilk, chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting.  I don't bake much beyond cookies these days, but I really wanted to try my hand at a cake.  So, here was the result.  I did make it a little boyish in honor of the men present.

Yum!

It was fun to make something special for these two special men God has given to me.  I truly am blessed!