My little Cheeseheads!

Just in time for the start of Packer Training Camp, we had a nice cool day today and I dressed the boys in their fall Packer attire to go to the county fair. Look for LOTS more Packer pictures next week because we're making our annual trek up to Green Bay to watching training camp on Monday. Wish us luck and good weather!

2 Months Old!

Sean is 2 months old today! Wow, time sure flies when you have two under two! He decided to surprise us just in time for his 2 month birthday and sleep through the night for the first time ever last night! Sean sure has become a smiling man lately. I love his little dimple. Fun fact... Both Ian and Sean have 1 dimple each, but on opposite sides. Ian's is on his left side and Sean's is on his right.

Update Part 2... Ian!

Ian is now 20 months old, can you believe that?! He's grown into such the little boy, it almost hurts my heart to see how big he is now. He is talking up a storm! I can't even count how many words he has now because it seems like he has 2 or 3 new ones everyday! He's learning his letters and colors as well. He only knows the number "2" though, and thinks anything more than "1" is "2". Adorable.

His favorite things are tractors, trucks, vacuums, lawn mowers or "mow mows", Dora, Nemo, and sadly... The Wiggles. He likes to talk about how "Toto Pete" drives a truck and "Wowo" drives a tractor and mower. He loves riding on Daddy's back in the Ergo carrier when Charles mows the lawn.

He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his little brother Sean! He loves to point out all his body parts, especially his toes. He also likes to smell his toes! He gives him endless kisses and hugs and always wants to touch his hair. It's just been in the last week or so that he's gone from calling him "baby" to "baby schau" or something sounding kind of like Sean.

Right now though, Ian has croup! Poor guy is so sick. He had a fever peaking at 104 on Saturday night and now he's got a pretty horrible cough. He face is so red and swollen from coughing and crying all the time. We went to the pedi today and they were able to give him some oral steriods to help dilate his airway to help him breathe. Hopefully he'll be on the upswing soon here.

So now you are updated on the life of our firstborn :)

Smile!

Sean's Birth Story

We went in on May 30th at 11:30 pm for an induction. We didn't actually get into a room till close to 12:15pm and by the time I was all checked it, it was 1pm. The OB on call came in and went over my birth plan with us and we told her we wanted to avoid any sort of unnecessary interventions if at all possible. I didn't want an IV and if I was able to progress on my own, I didn't want pitocin for sure!

She was on board with everything as long as I was progressing within a reasonable time table. I had really wanted to labor in the tub and my regular OB was totally fine with it, but the OB on call was pretty conservative and wouldn't let anyone in the tub who had ruptured membranes. She said I could either start pitocin and leave my bag in tact or could have my bag ruptured and not go in the tub. So at 1:10pm she broke my water. I was 4 1/2cm dilated at the time.

We walked the halls, I bounced on the birthing ball, watched Charles eat Subway, and just chatted. At about 2:30pm I started having contractions. Within an hour or so, the contractions were picking up and I was starting to have to focus through them more. While walking the halls I'd have to stop and wait for the contraction to finish before continuing.

By 4:30pm they were really getting strong and were about 2 minutes apart. At this point I lost my MP and had a lot of bloody show.

At 5:30pm my contractions were VERY strong and VERY painful and I was using all sorts of methods and positions from the Lamaze method to get through them. Charles was being SO supportive and really helped me through every second of every contraction.

At 6pm I started getting really naseauted and asked to be checked. The resident on call came in a checked me at 6:15pm and I was only 5 1/2 cm dilated, but I was 100% effaced and 0 station. I was seriously so annoyed that I had only progressed 1 cm since we arrived and I was in SOO much pain. At this point I was thinking that I couldn't go much longer without getting some sort of medication.

And then it hit like a rock. I was throwing up with every contraction and seriously in the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Our amazingly awesome nurse who was so supportive of a natural childbirth started prepping the room for delivery, even though I figured it'd be hours because of how long it took to get to 5 1/2. 30 minutes after I had last been checked I was feeling TONS of pressure and felt like I had to push. The OB came in to check me and it took her about .2 seconds to say "yeah, you're ready".

So at 6:50pm I started pushing. The only way I was actually comfortable was on my side so I did all my pushing on my side. So after 15 minutes of hard pushing and nearly ripping the handle off the hospital bed, Sean Patrick Raymond came out kicking and screaming at 7:05pm. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long.

I had a small 2nd degree tear that needed a few stitches but it was taken care of in just a few minutes, nothing like the hour+ it took to sew up the 4th degree tear I had with Ian.

The recovery from this birth has been so much easier. I was up and showering 45 minutes after Sean was born and I've felt pretty great from the beginning. What a blessing!

Bringing you up-to-date, part 1!

Between moving and having a newborn and toddler, I've had ZERO time to keep up with the blog. So I'll do a few shorters posts to get up to date. First, the update on our new house!

We closed on the house on June 15th and started moving small loads of things from the condo to the house during that week. We also painted the boys rooms during the week. On Father's Day, June 21st, we had our big move. We couldn't have done it without help from all our wonderful family and friends, so for the 100th time, thank you all!

We had our new couch delivered and our new washer and dryer were also delivered. They very well may be one of my favorites parts of the new house! I love having a laundry room in the basement instead of having to deal with the washer and dryer in the kitchen, like it was at the condo. The washer and dryer we chose are HE's, but the washer is a top loader instead of a front loader. They are much better at getting the cloth diapers clean than the front loaders are.

We're getting things unpacked, more slowly than surely, but it's nice to just be here and be able to enjoy our yard this summer! Ian LOVES the fenced in yard and Charles LOVES his new Weber grill he got for Father's Day. We've only used the hot tub once, but I'm sure once we're not spending our free-time or time after the boys go to bed unpacking, we'll make more use of it.

We have a long list of things we have yet to do but as I'm not working right now and staying home with the boys, we'll take those things one at a time when we have some surplus funds. The main things are a new dishwasher, a large area rug or just getting the basement carpeted, removing a tree in the backyard, privacy fence in the backyard and adding a tub in the basement bathroom.

Once we're a little more unpacked, I'll get some pictures up. I'm especially excited to get the boys' rooms finished! They're going to be so cute!

One month old!

Can you believe Sean is a month old already?! Time sure flies when you're moving with a toddler and a newborn!

For a comparison, here is Ian at one month old.