Emmett is here!!!!

I apologize for the two week delay. But now there are lots of pictures and much to tell to catch you up.

I felt two contractions on my way to work the morning of Wednesday, 05/19/10. I called Mark and told him to be showered and ready as I thought I would be calling him soon to take me to the hospital.

So my contractions started around 8:30am. I got to work just before 9:00am and was starting to freak out a bit as I did not have to time contractions with Cael because my water had broke and I wasn't sure how. I called my friend Beth who suggested I Google 'contraction timer' which I did. So I joined a conference call with a client, on mute, and began to time my contractions. Luckily Shannon came in and helped me. She shut the door to my office and I began the deep breathing as the contractions would come and go. After a while we saw they were 1-1.5 minutes apart. I called my doctor's office who advised I go ahead and go to the hospital. I called Mark and told him to come get me, and then called my mom so she would be on standby to buy an airline ticket to get here as soon as she could. Let me remind you I was still on this conference call. They asked me a question and instead of taking myself off mute I disconnected myself from the call. So I called back in. They kinda laughed and made a joke they thought I was in labor... I confirmed for them I was timing contractions.. so they were understanding as I rushed through some things and excused myself. :) As I waited for Mark I did a couple of more things to prepare for my leave from work - calling my boss, moving some emails around for space, etc.

Mark and I arrived at the hospital around 10am. I was so nervous that I would be dilated to receive an epidural - I had one with Cael and it was WONDERFUL so I wanted to do that again if possible. It seemed forever for us to check in and the nurse to come in and get me all hooked up to monitor me and check my 'progress.' I was 4 cm dilated so I had plenty of time for my epidural. I labored until about noon , dilating another cm before I received the epidural. This time the epidural seemed to make me loopy not just numb. I don't remember getting as numb with Cael. The nurse would roll me from one side to another every 30 minutes and check my 'progress.' It is something about that epidural that helps me relax and finish dilating. :) When she checked me and I was at 7cm my water broke so then we knew it was on! At about 9cm the nurse tried to set me up to finish dilating with my legs crossed, Emmett did not seem to like that and his heart rate dropped drastically. The nurse called for me hands, put an oxygen mask on me, lowered me quickly, and was getting me over on my side. Once on my side Emmett was fine again. The oxygen mask was left on for the remainder of my labor as a precaution. Talk about scary! - it happened so quickly and all you can do is trust them because you don't know what is going on. The rest of labor and delivery was smooth sailing. At 10cm I pushed once and you could see the head so they called in my doctor. While she was getting ready the nurse told me to push again but then told me to stop so the doctor could get her gloves on. 4 more pushes and he was out at 3:27pm. When his head came out one of his arms came with it and the cord was wrapped around. Thankfully he was a handsome, healthy boy. The doctor said she thought he was 8lbs 8oz and I was shocked, horrified! They then said he was 8lbs 10oz. I then asked my doctor if I had a mess (down there) and she said no. She told me I should have 12 more. :) Mark was there holding my leg the entire time and cut the cord - what a champ!

Proud parents.

Mark felt like the hospital staff kept giving him dirty looks because of his Gator gear.

He was 20.5 inches long and his head was 19.25 inches around.

Exhausted mommy!

The night the brothers met. Cael was so sweet!

Mama and her boys. Cael wanted to hold baby Emmett and give him kisses.

How sweet!

What an Angel!

I am ready to go home!

Daddy and his boys!

Just chillin' with dad.

Cael loves to hold Emmett and love on him. He likes to point out all of his body parts - eyes, hair, nose, feet, knees, etc.

Beesha (my mom) came to help us adjust for the first week! Thank you Beesha! We miss you!

Emmett looks like Cael when he cries - not like he doesn't look like him the rest of the time. :)

Precious!

Already 2 weeks old!

I have grown 1.5 inches and I now weigh 9lbs 2oz.

Having two little ones is definitely an adjustment but I think we are handling it fairly well. :) Cael was a little jealous last night but I am trying to balance my attention.

Cael is all moved into his big boy room and now sleeps there (mommy and daddy moved to the basement to give the boys their own rooms).

I hope you all are well!

Just over 3 weeks until Emmett arrives

This is me taking a picture of my belly myself with the Quick Cam. As you can see I have not 'dropped' yet. But I am hoping soon. We went to the doctor this last Friday and had an ultrasound. Emmett is head down the way he needs to be so we are just waiting on him! :)

- And I am about ready I think. I have a bag packed for Cael and friends on-call so they can pick him up, drop him off, or whatever needs to be done. I have my stuff together for the hospital but not in a bag so I need to do that. I have NB - 3 month cloths out and waiting. We are needing a bassinet but the packn'play will work.

Yesterday I was surprised by my wonderful, support friends from church! I thought I was meeting one for some church business but was surprised to find a group of them waiting for me. It is times like those that I am humbled by the support and love by my sisters and my friends. Thank you, thank you for being there for me and my family. I only hope I can be there when one one of you needs me!

Cael is 22 months old and ready to be a big brother! We found this vacuum for him at Once Upon a Child. He loves pushing it around the house.

He loves his hats and juice!

Cael chills on the couch while mommy gets dinner together. He is such a good boy and so smart. He sings so many songs now and knows the words to the books I read to him at bedtime.

I apologize for such a delay in posting any updates. I've been TIRED and we've been BUSY with chores around the house, a promotion at work, and just being PREGO! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! Love you all!

Cael is such a big boy. We converted his crib into a toddler bed late last week. So far so good. (Thud.. tonight was the first night he fell of....)

OOOOH! A Dora and Diego coloring book!

And a football

:)

Look at me.. I'm a bunny with a bubble wand!!!

The Easter Bunny must love Cael! :)

Check out that face. I think I have seen pictures of Mark with that same face.

Mommy bunny....

Once it warmed up we did go out back to look for some eggs.

He loved finding the eggs for his basket.

Ta-da! Cael did not want Mommy's help. I tried to help him when he tipped the basket over and he fussed at me because he thought I was taking his eggs.

Bubble time!!!!

Mommy helped blow bubbles...

Too cool!!! I always look good for the ladies! :)

Emmett is growing in the womb!

I've received requests to see my growing belly so here you go. This was almost 2 weeks ago.. sorry for the delay. So this was me 29 weeks pregnant.
I think Cael is freaked out that my belly button is actually sticking out.

Lovely!!!

Another view of the montrous belly. :)

Emmett will be another one of my boys hanging out and being cute!

Cael is eating to get muscles... he is going to help mommy with the new baby.

Macaroni and cheese is great for spiking hair! :)

Cheese! Ain't I cute?!

20 Months Old and Cute as a Button!

Cael loves to say CHEESE!

Daddy got him a basketball hoop...

We need to teach him to jump up to slam it! :)

Cael also wanted a Dora ball. He loves Dora and Boots.

Cheese! I got a hair cut and I look awesome! If it is possible, I think he looks even more like Mark with his man-do!

A sucker makes it all better. He did not care anything about her cutting his hair once he had some candy to keep him occupied.

Cael was not a fan of getting his haircut. He would not let her put the cape around him so we both had snot and hair every where.

Earlier in the morning before the haircut. We were indulging ourselves in a breakfast buffet.

Cael is a dancing machine! He gets it from his Daddy. :) This was one of the days we tried pull-ups. He was busting a move...

'How low can you go?!'

'I am going to wash that woman right out of my hair'... no he is not using the Old Spice seen in the corner. :)

He is chilln' like a villain with Daddy. They like to build towers and then knock them over.

About 3 months left...

I am sorry it has been a while since I last posted a message. It has been somewhat hectic but I have also been a bit lazy. :)

The pregnancy is going well. I go next week for my glucose test. I know a lot of people complain about the taste of the drink but I don't think it is too bad. I choose the orange flavored one so to me it tastes like Sunkist. I am getting huge. I was mixing my wardrobe so that I was not always wearing maternity clothes but I can't really do that anymore - at least not comfortably.

Cael is doing well. He seems to grow right before my eyes; I am amazed every day. He unfortunately has been battling with a cough which has gotten worse and worse. Mark took him to the doctor today; he has croup and bronchitis. So we will be giving him some breathing treatments to help break up the gunk. Good times. When my boy doesn't want to eat his dinner I know something is wrong! :)

Mark has been working hard to get the house ready to go on the market. Our two bedroom townhouse is just too small for a growing family. Last week he painted our red living room chocolate brown with the help of some friends. Thank you!!! We have also rented storage space to clear out the clutter. We are now looking to replace the linoleum in both bathrooms, patch up a couple of drywall eyesores, paint the front door, and clean the carpets. We are trying to get it all done in the next couple of weeks as the realtor has indicated March is the best month to sell.

So where will we move? Not sure yet. We are thinking we will rent for a while and take some time to look around Lincoln. If we buy again I want it to be the house we will be in for several years, so schools will be important. We are just excited to get out of this house and move on. It has been great for a first home but at times we feel claustrophobic.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try not to wait so long to post again.