October Fun

Adam's arrival made the whole month of October feel a bit like vacation.  Between the fun I had with Isaac the first week of October before Adam came and all the help I had after Adam's arrival, I got to sit back and relax quite a bit.  The vacation feeling was only enhanced by the fact that I get more sleep with a newborn than I do during the last month of my pregnancy (I got pregnancy insomnia bad), so I was feeling significantly less sleep deprived!  

My mom came down to help us for the first week and a half after Adam was born.  She got in the Sunday night before I went in the hospital and stayed through the next Wednesday.  She brought down a jogging stroller she had bought so that she could take Isaac running with her every morning.  He was in LOVE!  They went on lots and lots of walks and runs during my mom's time here.  Isaac loved the chance to get out of the house and just spend time outdoors since it had finally cooled down.

I loved having my mom here to help Isaac feel special and to help me adjust to dividing my time between two cute boys!

Isaac and my mom at the hospital.  Isn't my mom gorgeous? 

One of the many cute shots my mom got while she was here.

My mom reading to Isaac.

Isaac showing Adam how awesome Grandma's tablet is.

One day after a ton of rain my mom took Isaac out to play in the puddles.  She scored major points in his book for letting him do that!

Bear-bear got a little bath (and then a major bath in the washer).

Isaac got hold of the peanut butter jar while we were making no-bake cookies.

My mom made Isaac's costume while she was down here!

After my mom left, Andy started his two weeks of paternity leave.  We loved having him home so much!

Andy always wraps himself up in a blanket in the morning so Isaac wanted to be just like dad!  It brought back lots of memories from when my sister Stephanie and I dressed my brother up.

At the ward trunk-or-treat

 Lately Isaac has been obsessed with our shoes (and his own).  One Sunday I captured some of the many shoes he likes to wear.

Andy's dress shoes.

My high heels (we had serious problems taking these away from him!)

My boots

 After a long day shopping for some new clothes we stopped by In-n-Out for a quick lunch.  Isaac was a big fan of his first cheeseburger!

On one of Andy's last days of leave we finally made it up to a little pumpkin farm in Richardson.  We had a lot of fun until we went on the hay ride.  I thought Isaac would love it, but it traumatized him a little.

We had planned to wait until we were in a house to get a double stroller, but it quickly became apparent that if I was going to be able to go on walks we needed one ASAP.  We had it up in the apartment after setting it up, and Isaac had lots of fun playing with it.

Andy's first day back at work was Halloween.  Luckily it was a short day since he came home early to take Isaac trick or treating.

Adam and I while Andy and Isaac were out.

This is really blurry, but you can still see the joy on Isaac's face from the fun he was having.

Isaac with some of the friends they went with.

Me with my two boys at the end of the night!

One Last Week

The most beautiful part of having a scheduled induction for me was knowing when the baby would be born so I could plan one last fun week with Isaac before Adam came.  I tried to plan fun activities to keep us busy every day and finish up all those last errands before Adam joined us.

Monday

Monday morning Isaac and I headed up to Ikea for what was supposed to be a fairly quick trip.  I just needed to exchange some picture frames and knew that I had to do it before the baby came if it was going to get done.  Instead, we ended up being there for a couple of hours and eating lunch there.

Sharing a plate of chicken fingers and fries.

In the fun chair we ended up getting.  We were hoping that if Isaac had his own special chair he would be less likely to sit in the baby bouncer.  Yeah, that idea totally failed.

The picture wall we put up (finally).  Our last box is finally unpacked (a year and a half after we moved here).

Tuesday

On Tuesday we went down to the Dallas Museum of Art to take advantage of their fun First Tuesday program.  This one was all about the senses, so they had a table full of scented play-doh.  We ended up spending the entire time we were there playing with the play-doh.  Isaac was just so happy I couldn't pull him away!

Wednesday

Wednesday night we went to the state fair.  I got a few crazy looks for being there so close to my due date, but I was totally up for a night of walking in hopes that I'd go into labor on my own!  Next year we're going to make a full day (or at least a half day) of it and pack our own meals so we can just spend money on the fun fried foods.

They had fun little pumpkins for the kids to color in one area!

The highlight of the night for Isaac was watching the parade at the end of the day!

Thursday

Thursday started off with our normal trip to the library.  I kind of overdid it on Thursday though because we went straight from the library to Target to return a few things and then got home just in time to force Isaac to eat some lunch before rushing him over to my friend Emily's house so he could take a nap while I went to my last doctor's appointment.

Saturday

Saturday was the start of General Conference, but we decided to wait until later to watch the Saturday morning session and instead go to the fall festival put on by Andy's work.  Isaac had a blast!  They had a bouncy house, craft station, and balloon man that were perfect for kids his age (check out the sweet hat he got)!  They also had 10-12 tables set up with food from all over the world.  It was fun to sample some different things.

Sunday

On Sunday we headed up to Andy's sister Lindsay's house to watch General Conference with her family and celebrate Abby's birthday.  For the afternoon session she set up a fun candy bar with all different candies and tags for different words to listen for.  Isaac was in heaven with all that sugar!  The funniest part was that Lindsay made the word "priesthood" a freebie word where you could pick any candy you wanted... and then there was at least one talk about the priesthood.  By the end of that talk we were all a little tired of the candy and needed a break.

All in all, the week was a fun way to spend some one-on-one time with Isaac before I had to split my attention between him and Adam.  I think planning a special date with each of my kids separately before a baby is born is definitely something I'm going to try to make a tradition.  

Adam's at 1 Month

Adam survived his first month of life!  I would even venture to say that he's enjoyed it.  I know the rest of us have enjoyed having him here.  This month has definitely been a little bit of a learning curve as I've figured out how to juggle taking care of two kids.  

One of the highlights of this month has been watching Adam and Isaac bond as brothers.  Isaac has been so sweet with Adam, and Adam seems to enjoy the attention from Isaac.

I love this picture my mom got of Adam!  He spent most of his first few weeks sleeping and would curl up on his side if he wasn't swaddled up.

Adam's first bath!

A little about Adam right now:

• He is a growing boy!  At his 2 week check up he was 10 lbs. even.  When I weighed him at one month (using the oh-so-accurate method of weighing myself holding him and then alone) he was just over 12 lbs.  Considering that all he does is sleep and eat I'm not surprised that he's packing on the weight.
• Adam loves to sleep!  I spend more time trying to get him to stay awake than I do trying to get him to sleep.  Most of the time I can just swaddle him and lay him in a corner of the couch and he'll fall asleep without any other assistance before I move him to his crib.  I can't tell you what a blessing this has been!
• When Adam is awake, he's generally a pretty happy guy (as long as he's been fed and isn't too tired). 
• He's started to smile and coo.  I love it when I get one of his still rare smiles!  I'm so excited to see them more as he gets older!

Isaac is 2!

I don't know how this happened!  I swear it was just the other day that he turned one.  This last year has been a busy, fun one.  Isaac has grown so much (both physically and mentally) in this last year.

We kept his birthday a lot more low-key than last year's.  My parents and Sarah came down from Kansas to celebrate with us (and meet Adam).  We had fun going to Central Market on Saturday morning and then during Isaac's nap Sarah, my mom, and I went downtown to the Central library so Sarah could check-out a few books for an English paper.

After Isaac's nap we went to a local park for cake and ice cream with a few friends.  We love living in Dallas where it's warm enough in November to celebrate outside!

Helping Aunt Sarah get ready in the morning

Playing with Ben...and the broken tennis racket he found at the park.

Blowing out the candles on his dinosaur cake!

Opening presents at home.

His new drill set from my parents.

Super Isaac! Thanks Grandma Brasher!

Isaac's new slide!

Isaac is at such a fun age right now!  Some highlights of Isaac being two (so far):

• He's starting to talk like crazy!  We can't always understand what he's saying, but we can understand about 75% of what he says.  He'll try copying most of the words he hears (which is both good and bad).  It's so nice to be able to communicate more with him.
• Isaac LOVES dinosaurs, trucks, and the Laurie Berkner Band.  He gets so excited about watching the different trucks when we're driving and I can entertain him for about an hour watching music videos on YouTube.
• Isaac can jump!  He's just started to get both feet off the ground at the same time.  It's so cute to watch his little hop.
• Right now his absolute favorite food is the 12 grain crackers from Trader Joe's.  He could probably eat an entire box in one sitting if I let him.
• Isaac has suddenly fallen in love with two of his stuffed animals, doggie and bear-bear.  He takes them to bed with him (and that's what's made it possible for him to start falling asleep on his own in his crib) and carries them around during the day.  He'll give them hugs and kisses and try to feed them during the day.
• At his two year check-up Isaac was 27 lbs. and 34" tall.  When he got his shots he surprised the nurse with how brave he was!  Other than a little shout after the second one he didn't react at all!  It helps that the nurse is super fast with the shots (the most important thing at a doctor's office in my opinion).
• Isaac is such a good big brother.  He loves Adam so much!  Whenever Adam is crying he starts singing "I Am a Child of God" to him.  He loves to hold him or help burp him.  I love watching the two of them and thinking about how fun it will be when Adam is old enough to play with Isaac.

I am so in love with this little man!  He keeps me entertained and on my toes during the day.  I wouldn't trade anything in the world for his cute personality and the opportunity I have to be at home with him all day.

Hello Handsome!

He's here!  Adam Ryan Brasher made his debut into the world on October 7 and we couldn't be happier to have him here!

Despite starting my pregnancy dead set against having another induction, we ended up deciding to get induced at 39 weeks in hopes of having a smaller baby and no 3rd degree tears (or blood transfusion).  The ultrasounds I was getting at the end of my pregnancy all pointed towards Adam being a big baby and we decided that it was worth going through an induction in order to have an easier recovery.  My midwife even moved my due date up so I could get induced earlier (she moved it to align with the due date indicated by my first ultrasound) since Baylor hospital won't allow for elective inductions before 39 weeks.

Just before we left for the hospital.  Even though it's only been 3 weeks I can't believe I was ever that big!

 So at 4:45 a.m. on October 7 I found myself showering and getting ready before getting to the hospital.  I told Andy on our way into the hospital that I had hardly slept the night before because it was almost like trying to sleep on Christmas Eve.  Even though I knew I was in for a hard day, I was SO excited to get this baby out of my body and into my arms!  The last month of pregnancy is a rough one for me thanks to my massive belly (I mean seriously, I look like I'm hiding a basketball under that shirt!).

We got to the hospital and checked in at 6 and then we played the waiting game for awhile.  When the nurse came to get my IV started she tried to find a vein in my left arm, but couldn't (after wiggling a needle around in there for a minute).  I had to ask her to give me a few minutes before she tried to get one on my hand because I felt like I was going to pass out. It took a good half hour before I could let her (or anyone else) try again.  There were a few minutes when I sat there thinking to myself that I would just have to go home and wait until this baby decided to come on his own because I couldn't handle them putting in the IV.  They finally got the IV in and Pitocin started at 8 a.m.  Then the waiting game really began...

Andy and I spent the morning hanging out and relaxing.  Contractions weren't too bad so other that switching positions every little while there really wasn't too much to think about.  At 2:30 my midwife Allison broke my water and suddenly everything became a bit more real.  I suddenly had to have Andy rub my back through every contraction.  We were excited though because I was a few hours "ahead of schedule"...the schedule being the timetable of when things happened with Isaac.

After a few hours of dealing with these contractions on my own, I decided I had reached the point where I needed an epidural.  I asked for a really light one so I could actually decide for myself when I was ready to push.  At first I just felt like my lower half had fallen asleep (I could still wiggle my toes!), but I was still feeling a bit of pain during contractions, so I  had to ask them to up the dosage a few times.  Ultimately, I ended up with my legs completely numb.  Once I got the epidural all I was out of it.  All the sudden I was so tired and just wanted to sleep for an hour or so.  Unfortunately, there was enough going on that I couldn't sleep, although I did get to close my eyes and rest for a few hours.

Once I had the epidural, my labor started to feel a lot like my labor with Isaac.  I could only lay on my left side and I pretty much stopped progressing (I was stuck at a 7 and about 85% effaced).  After a few checks with Allison, Andy and I started to settle in because we assumed we were going to be there all night before anything happened.

In what turned out to be a piece of good luck, Adam's heartbeat started to decrease with each contraction.  We tried pumping some fluid back in to cushion him from the contractions a bit more and sitting me in different positions, but when none of that helped Allison decided to turn off my Pitocin and call in the OB on call from her practice to decide on the next step (aka, decide whether or not a c-section was in my future).  Luckily for me, despite it being 8 at night, Dr. Plank, the OB, wasn't gung-ho to do a c-section just so she could go home.  Since I was still having contractions despite the Pitocin being turned off she thought I should try pushing to get Adam into a better position so I could finish progressing and push for real.

So Dr. Plank and Allison started to help me push through my contractions.  They had put me on oxygen earlier and at one point during the pushing I asked if I could take it off so I could actually hear what they were saying during my contractions.  I had to wear it in between contractions, but when I was actually pushing I could take it off so I could be more a part of what was going on.

After pushing through 4 or 5 contractions, one of the nurses asked Andy if we could move our stuff off a table and I heard Allison tell the other nurse to call for a nurse from NICU to come down.  As they started laying things on the table and Dr. Plank and Allison got gowns on I suddenly realized that maybe I was about to have a baby.  So I asked them something along the lines of "so am are we pushing for real now?"  When they said yes I was a little shocked.  Andy and I had just been talking half an hour ago about how we were going to be here all night and how this was going to end up just like Isaac's birth.

Despite being in a little bit of shock that I was about to have a baby (although I still thought at this point that I was in for an hour or two of pushing), I kept pushing through my contractions.  It was at this point that I really started to appreciate Dr. Plank.  She called me out on not pushing hard enough and just said straight out that if I wanted to avoid a c-section or forceps delivery I would need to push harder.  I needed that kind of bluntness to get me to do what I needed to do.  As I pushed, Dr. Plank and Allison used forceps to pop Adam's head under my pelvic bone because his head wasn't moving around it on its own.  Soon I started feeling a baby sitting in between my legs and I knew that it wouldn't be long before I held my sweet boy in my arms, so I pushed harder.

At 9:15 p.m. he was out and on my chest!  Unlike when Isaac was born I got to hold Adam for a few minutes before he was carried off to a corner of the room to get checked out.  During those few minutes Adam peed right on Allison in revenge for all she had done to kick him out of the nice warm spa he had been swimming in for the last 9 months.

The nurse weighed him (9 lb. 4 oz.), measured him (21" tall), and declared him perfectly healthy, so Adam was brought back to cuddle with me while I got stitched up.  I ended up with 3rd degree tears in the exact same place as before since they had to use forceps to push him under my pelvic bone.

After everything was all stitched up, they left us alone to recover for awhile and start nursing.  Andy and I finally had a chance to decompress and realize what had just happened.  In just over an hour we had gone from thinking we would be there all night, to worrying about a c-section, to having a baby!  I was grateful for the time to sit and relax and look at this not-so-little baby who had taken my breath away when he arrived.

Allison came in after 15 or 20 minutes to chat and see how I was feeling and tell me how everything had gone.  She told me the one thing I really needed to hear-- that there wasn't anything I could have done differently, except gain less weight, that would have changed how Adam was born.  I had been going to a chiropractor to help open up my pelvic region and I had been induced as early as possible (apparently a history of hemorrhaging isn't enough of a medical reason to induce before 39 weeks) to give me the best chance at avoiding forceps and 3rd degree tears.  So my goal for my next pregnancy is to gain less weight and be more active in hopes of having a smaller baby...we'll see how it goes.

When it's all said and done though, Adam is here and healthy.  My recovery has been 10 times easier than it was with Isaac and I have felt so much better about everything!  I think I may actually be getting more sleep now that Adam's here despite waking up 2-3 times a night for feedings (yay for being able to sleep comfortably).  Isaac has been so sweet and loving to his new little brother that it melts my heart when I see them together.  I love my little family so much and I'm so grateful that I have 2 sweet, healthy, wonderful boys to call my own.

Adam's first bath

Isaac coming to visit us!

I love this picture so much!  Isaac was so sweet with Adam right from the beginning.