Jackson Charles is here!

Our incredibly punctual son arrived September 25, 2011 (his due date) at 12:07pm. Weighing in at 9lbs 8oz at 21.5" tall this "little" guy has been such a blessing. Sunday morning I woke up with contractions. By around 7:00 we decided that I was officially in labor. After getting things ready we headed to the hospital around 9:45. We got checked in and admitted. They had to put 3 IV's in me before they could get one to stay. Anyone who knows my fear of needles can only imagine how frustrating this was. We got up to the room and then shortly after got the epidural because at that point my contractions were really close together. Right before noon the nurse came in. I told her that I felt like I had to go to the bathroom and she told me that it might be the baby. She checked me and sure enough I was ready to push! Matt and I could literally not believe how fast everything went. Kendyl's labor was 22 hours start to finish so this was new to us. I began pushing at 12:00 and he was here by 12:07. It was ridiculous how fast the second labor goes. He is a beautiful, healthy baby and we are so lucky to have him. While the labor went really smooth though the recovery has been anything but smooth. Soon after having Jackson I began to have some pressure in my tailbone. I told the nurses about it but they kept saying everything was fine. By the time I was taken to the postpartum room I was in an excruciating amount of pain. They eventually called the doctor back in and she told me that blood had clotted in my uterus and it was putting pressure on my rectum. This may be too much information for some people so feel free to skip down to the pictures, but for journaling purposes I am going to share (the nice version anyway). The doctor had to get the blood clots out which was hands down the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. My hands completely cramped up and I was sweating more than I think I have ever sweat in my life. After the procedure I was pretty much out cold. They were giving me several pain medications and I was completely lethargic. Matt said that I had absolutely no color in my face from all the blood loss. Because of this they also had to test my blood...4 times. For anyone keeping track that is a total of 7 times I was stabbed!

Since then, recovery has been slow. I continue to experience difficulties and had to go to the doctor yesterday because I am still in so much pain. She told me that a hemotoma had formed and that if it doesn't go down on its own that I will have to have a surgery to get it drained (lovely right?). This explains the pressure that I had been feeling though. She also told me that I had a slight UTI which I kind of knew before I went in. So that is pretty much where we are as of now. Our parents have been a huge help and Matt has been such an amazing support. I really don't know where I would be without them all. Ultimately, I am just ready to feel normal again.

Fortunately, Jackson is a wonderful baby. He is an excellent sleeper. He only wakes up once a night and is so mellow. At first it was a bit of a challenge to get him to nurse because he was a little bit lazy, but that has been improving everyday and he is doing really well now. Since Kendyl was such an awesome baby we were certain he would be more of a challenge, but it looks like we are just lucky (so far anyway). On that note though, Kendyl continues to be wonderful. She adores Jackson and really wants to help. There is nothing that warms my heart more than when I see her do little sweet things for Jackson. At times she can get a little bit whiny when she really wants my attention, but other than that I am so impressed with what an amazing little girl and big sister she is. We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful kids!

Jackson with the dog that Kendyl brought him.

Papa and Jackson

Kendyl meeting Jackson for the first time.

I missed this little girl like crazy! You will have to excuse me in this picture. This was the morning after the whole hemorrhage incident.

Grandma and Jackson

Here is Kendyl giving all of her markers to Jackson. She has also dug up all of her old pacifiers and loads them into his seat as well.

He is really appreciative :) (yes I know his seat has pink and flowers. I was not willing to buy another one just because of this. He will never know right?)

My sleepy man

Mally and Jackson

Pop and Jackson

Aunt "Kooky" (as Kendyl calls her) and Austin with Jackson. Austin is excited to teach Jackson all the "boy" things.

Aunt "Nell" and Jackson

Proud Daddy. They have already spent many hours together watching football. I am so glad that Matt will get to have a son :)

Love this picture

He looks like a little old man...haha. I love it!

Summer Time Fun!

I have had a blast with Kendyl this summer. It makes me a little sad that this will be the last summer with just the 2 of us so we made sure to live it up! She has been learning and growing so much lately. For the longest time I could never get her to sit still long enough to even notice the TV. Her attention span seems to be increasing quite a bit lately though because her new obsessions have been The Incredibles and Barney (possibly my least favorite children's show). It's funny when she asks to watch Barney because she pronounces it with a New York accent almost (Buarney). She also really likes to play Donkey Kong on the Wii. She likes to shake the remote and find the birds. She enjoys playing with my camera and takes pictures all the time. She is also really into books and pictures. We read several books a day and she asks to look at pictures all the time. Recently, she has taken an interest in coloring, however, she doesn't like the washable Crayola crayons. She prefers my Sharpee markers. She loves talking on the phone and whenever we ask her who is on the phone she says "Ben" (Matt's best friend). Ben usually stops by once a week and her whole world just lights up when he comes over. Now any time she hears the doorbell ring she yells "Ben" and gets all excited. It's really cute. We are trying to bring the potty training thing back up again. She seems to be showing all the signs that she is ready (taking her diaper off, telling us when she has gone to the bathroom, hiding to go poop, etc). We have been a little more lax about it than we probably should be. Being as pregnant as I am I don't necessarily feel like taking her to the potty every 30 minutes. She talks all the time and is putting 2 or more words together more and more each day. There is still a lot of babble that we don't understand, but those are also our favorite stories so it all works. I can't wait to hear what she is actually talking about. One of the funniest and weirdest things she has been doing lately is wiping kisses off. Not on her face though, on ours. She will give you a kiss then wipe your mouth with her hand). We have no idea where she learned this from. It just started one day and now she does it all the time. Other things that crack me up (but not Matt as much) are when she calls Matt, Matt (instead of Dad or dada) and when she wont drink water without ice in it (I am the same way so I realize this is completely my fault, but I still think it's funny). That's pretty much a wrap up on Kendyl. It has been a while since my last post so there are a lot of pictures.

Her pig tails

This is how she eats corn...such etiquette

This child LOVES accessories (shoes, purses and glasses mostly). One day I was cooking dinner and she and Matt were in her play room and this is how she came out. She kept handing things to Matt to put on her and this was the final product.

She would not go anywhere without her glasses for a while

My mom got her these awful glasses from the dollar store. Since I was never very "girly" my mom is determined to make my daughter the biggest priss she can.

This was so funny. She kept telling me that her dog had to go pee pee so I let her outback and she put her dog in the grass to take care of it's business.

She finally figured out that she can use the stool to reach things. It has opened up a whole new world of things to get into, which has kept Matt and I pretty busy!

My little pool baby. This child LOVES the pool. We go several times a week. She is completely fearless. She will jump and go under water without batting an eye. I love that she is so comfortable. Now that we got the pool fence I feel much better about her dare devil behaviors.

We always water the citrus trees before we get in the pool. Why is she standing like such a little adult?

Like I said she loves shoes. She is probably better than me at walking in heels.

At Joe's Barbecue

I love this picture. She was running so fast I could barely keep her in the frame!

The biggest transition of the summer has been moving her to the toddler bed. She seriously loved her crib so I felt really bad taking it from her, but I was not about to buy another one for her brother. At first we kept the two in her room and would let her choose. While she loved to play in the bed she chose the crib every time when it came time to sleep so eventually we had to just take it cold turkey. The first night was really hard. She cried and kept asking me to read "more books." After that things got a little better with each nap and bed time. After about 3 nights it was back to business as usual. Nap time has become a little more of a challenge. She likes to get in and out of her bed, but eventually she crawls in bed and goes to sleep. I guess I can't complain.

Zzzz...
It's official she has chosen her favorite blanket. It's the yellow one she is snuggled up with. She carries it all over the house and likes to chew on the corners and play with the tag. I know she has a lot of...crap in her crib, but she insits that it is all there. This is just one battle I don't choose to fight.

My friend Heidi signed her son up for the Little Gym and invited us to come along one day. Kendyl liked it so much I had to sign her up for the last 4 weeks of summer. It was really great for her. It gave her a chance just to run and climb, but it also gave her a chance to play with kids which she loved.

Catching a bubble on her finger

At her friend Jack's birthday party. She LOVED Chuck E. Cheese!

Like Mother Like Daughter

I get told pretty often that Kendyl looks just like me. Sometimes I think this is something that people just say and sometimes I think she really does look like me. I still maintain though that there is something about her that looks like Matt, but I just don't know what it is...We finally got a printer with a scanner (were a little behind the times, I know) so I scanned a couple of baby pictures on to the computer from when Matt and I were Kendyl's age.

I think this one looks most like Kendyl