Little Everett

We are so excited to have Everett with us in our Family! He is the sweetest little thing! The story of his coming to this earth goes a little something like this...

Thursday was an interesting day. I (Melissa) started having contractions in the morning, but they were very inconsistent. They were, however, also very painful. During the day, they became more painful, however, never any more consistent. By about 4:00 in the afternoon they became where if I sat down, they would stop, but the second I stood up, they would start again. They were painful enough that I felt like they were true labor pains... after-all, nothing else seems to hurt the way labor does... so if it was feeling this bad, what else could it be. With a little internet research, I discovered false labor can feel just like the real thing... however contractions are inconsistent and stop when you rest. O.K... I figured that was what I was dealing with. I wasn't happy about it either. If I am going to be going through pain... it better be for something. Other than these horrid contractions, the day was going really well. My mom was in town so she was able to stay home with the kids during their naps so I could run off and take care of a few errands. And as I was driving home from the store after picking up the spray paint I need for the "boys room" dresser renovations, I thought... man life is good. I guess I knew it was about to become a whole lot sweeter with a new little man to enjoy!

I "went to bed" around 10:30 feeling pretty positive that the night wasn't going to result in much sleep. The un-contraction contractions had woke me up the night before, and I was sure that they had only gotten stronger - so my odds weren't looking too great. I was right. At about 10:42 I got up to use the restroom, anything to distract me from the pain I was feeling, and ended up just pacing around the bathroom for five miserable contractions. I walked out, put my clothes on, and warned Andy that false labor or not - something had to happen... I was not going to be able to just go on with things the way they were going. I went to the living room, Andy put "newlyweds" on for me, and I was going to try to wait it out so that the nurses didn't just send me home with my inconsistent contractions. A few more contractions came, and I noticed these ones were 5 mins apart. Did this mean they were no longer false labor, and the real deal??? Andy decided to go lay down again, but about as soon as he layed down, I started calling. He tried hard to ease the pain while I cried and frantically moved around the couch. "I want to go to the hospital", I said. "I don't know what else to do". So, he went and put all the hospital bags and cameras in the car - ran up to wake my mom and tell her we were off, at least for now. We hopped in the car, well, I wobbled and cried my little way out to the car, and off we went. Two contractions later... we had arrived. The Emergency staffer pushed me up to labor and delivery while Andy parked the car. The sweet lady pushing my wheelchair asked if this was my first. I said no... my third. She then asked if I was catholic. I replied, no, I'm mormon. She said... oh yeah, you guys like to have big families too. I kind of chuckled... in between tears, and thought how sweet she was as she rubbed my shoulders in the elevator. Andy caught up to us about the time we walked into labor and delivery, and we were both pleasantly suprised at how quickly they got me into a room, and got me all hooked up. They never assumed for a minute that I was not in real labor, and never acted like they may be sending me home. This was a very welcome difference from both of my previous delivery experiences. With Stella I was sent home once, only to return later that afternoon to deliver, and with Sterling I was treated as if my water actually hadn't broken... and that I was probably mistaken, until the nurse was able to check me and realized I was a 5 and that things were probably as I said they were. The nurses this time around treated me like this was it from the instant I walked (rolled) in. It was nice. The nurse checked me and I was at a 7. What??? A 7? Sweet... but can I still have an epidural??? Thats all I could think! I was re-assured that I still could. Thank heavens. At this point I was progressing quickly, and once the lab was done drawing blood, I was able to get the epidural. I was an 8-9. Now this epidural was different than any that I have had before. I was able to feel everything... well except the pain. It was awesome. I could still move my legs, I could tell when it was time to push, etc. etc. So, almost as soon as the epidural was done, it was time to push. Then it was three pushes... and Andy looked at me and said he had dark hair. WHAT??? Dark hair??? I had been picturing this baby as Sterling with dark hair. I think that was the only thing my mind could come up with, but I also assumed that he wouldn't look how I pictured. So to hear Andy say dark hair was kind of a shocker. I asked him about 12 times if he was serious. I could't figure out if he was kidding or not. Then the doc came in, and it was two pushes before they layed him on me. I could not believe my eyes. I was thinking... this can't be our child. He looks nothing like the others. His face was blue, he had dark black hair - and lots of it, and his eyes were way puffy so they basically just looked like slits. Plus, his cry was a little softer than the others, (although still quite loud, and he wouldn't stop for anything) and I just could not believe his hair!!! He was the sweetest little thing, stopping his crying only once he heard my voice. MELT MY HEART!!! They let us have him for as long as we wanted before they took him away to be cleaned up and fully checked out, and we were just loving it. Andy said right away that the name Everett was perfect for him because it was different from our other kids names... with the S's and all, and he was different than them too... well, at least at first look:) I was very relieved to see that he was ok. I have worried about him from the beginning. I think it is a combo of how different this pregnancy was and how so many of my dear friends have had so many struggles with babies recently, I started to worry that things wouldn't be quite as good as they seemed. Well, they were, he was precious, and so far seems to be just about the sweetest thing possible. I love the moments when he just stares. I am in love with his hair, and cherishing it every moment because I know the chances are fairly decent that it will all fall out and be replaced with blond curls. Here are some pics of the little stud muffin for your enjoyment!

snap happy tree huggers

One of the things we were most looking forward to when buying a house was having a yard. Andy is a true outdoor lover, and though I really appreciate the heated/air conditioned indoors, I also get great satisfaction from spending time outside on a nice evening with a slight breeze blowing. Because we bought a "new" house, we have had to start from scratch with the backyard. We have no grass, no fence (besides the very back) etc... so we have had fun planning. Of course we can't do everything we would like to, at least not right away, but we are slowly making progress with our little place in this world. We started our backyard off with planting fruit trees. Andy has long been a fruit tree "thief" and has been known to ask perfect strangers if he could take some fruit from their trees. He has also been known to skip the asking part. Hopefully now he can keep himself out of trouble, and just eat the fruit off our own trees. We planted an apple cocktail, bing and black tartaran cherries, and elberta peach so far. (we are thinking about another peach... for cross pollination, we will see...)

Enjoy the pics... and there are many. Because our family is about to change in a big way with the addition of our soon to be born little man, I can't seem to leave a single picture out. I want to remember every little snapshot of our lives these days, as they will soon never be the same. (and sorry many of the pics are blurry etc... many of them were taken through our screen:))

More of our backyard work to come!

Belly shot

Here I am at 31 weeks 3 days. I am now 33 weeks 3 days, and feel much larger than this pic. :) I also now have PUPPS. The steroids seem to be helping though, so that is good. This baby moves a ton, so much that while laying in bed at night, I often get nauseas from all the constant moving. At least I am not concerned about him being ok in there though, so that is a plus. The doc keeps saying, well, you aren't diabetic and some babies are just big babies... and then he will say that he thinks this babe will split the difference weight wise between my other two (6.6 and 8.7) so I am not sure if he will be big or small, or average. But he does feel big. I feel like every little spot in my belly is taken up by him. Moving is at the stage where it takes major effort to get up, and twisting and bending is horribly uncomfortable, so I can tell it is almost time. (Hallelujah) I was all nervous about having this baby a while ago... wasn't sure I was REALLY ready for three, but now I am just excited. I am sure it wont be all that easy, but I will have a new little munchkin that is all mine... so it will be fun.

TWO

This little man turned two today... we will post about our awesome adventures celebrating soon!

milestone number one

There are many milestones that come along with owning a home. We have reached one, and so I will share. This week, the ice cream man made his first trek of the year down our street, and we gave into temptation and paid an awful lot of money for some cheap little popsicles... but it was worth it. The kids enjoyed handing over their dollar bills to the man (who was a little creepy actually) inside the truck, and taking their valuable treats from his hands. I enjoyed the memories it brought back to me of all the days I loved doing the same exact thing with the ice cream man growing up. Now we just have to hope he doesn't come back... too often:)

Trick or Treat

Saturday night we went Trick or Treating... and the kids had a blast! They thought the whole concept was fantastic. Sterling got a little annoyed at not being able to actually eat the candy right away, so we gave him a little here and there.

As you can tell, Stella was so excited she had to be silly!

And Sterling just wanted to hit things with his "devil stick".

We all enjoyed this halloween quite a bit!

Check it!!!

Andy passed the South Carolina State Bar, and is officially an Attorney, or at least will be after being sworn in next month...

I am one proud wifey right now!

The Fair

We have gone to the fair every year since we moved here... and it has become a tradition we love. The first year, we spent a lot of time being shocked at all the food they were selling. Things like fried pepsi, fried candy bars, fried oreos... seriously??? Two years ago we even brought ourselves to pay the $4.00 to taste the fried pepsi... and it was kind of a let down... but I'm glad to have that story to tell. This year they were selling donut hamburgers, using two donuts instead of a bun. Andy offered to buy me one, and you would think that in my pregnant state one might sound good, but it didn't. Anyway, I took this picture just as we got out of our car in the parking lot, just to kind of warm up the camera. Then it flashed "change battery pack" and shut off. No way!

So we spent the rest of the time enjoying ourselves "in the moment" rather than worrying about what things might look like through the lens, but also "missed" a few fun memories that I wish we could have captured. Luckily Andy had the iphone to snap some super important things... and I will add those pics when he gets home:).

We spent a good amount of time with the animals. Stella is obsessed with feeding them. She would very faithfully walk around the petting zoo, picking up animal food that had been dropped by others, and fed as many goats and sheep as would take her food. She may have even fed the donkey... I can't remember, but I do know she was very into it. Didn't even have time to talk she was so focused. (And that is really saying something with her). Sterling tried to put some of the food pellets in the goats nose, but couldn't grasp the concept that he had to simply hold his hand flat in order to feed the animals. He wanted to shove it in their mouths for them. They didn't appreciate him too much. But he still had a good time. Then we looked at horses. Sterling really liked the horses. Maybe "cowboy" wouldn't have been a bad name for him after all.

The kids also both really enjoyed climbing on the tractors. And we enjoyed looking at some of the photography, and cake decorating, and quilts etc. But before we left, we had to let the kids go on a ride. We decided we were going to wait until they asked to go on one to ever do it, and sure enough... this was the year. Stella noticed the rides first thing. Before we even entered the fair parking lot she was asking if she could go on the big pink thing that was up in the sky... so we did it. I was nervous at first, thinking they would chicken out and want to get off like they did last year with riding ponies, and that they may just stand up and try to hop off, surely mangling their little bodies in the process... but after strapping them in as tightly as I could, and warning them to hold on tight... the little trucks they were riding in began to "drive" in circles, and their faces lit up. They laughed and squealed, making sure we knew how awesome their lungs worked, and made the $4.00 we spent on tickets for one measley little kiddie ride seem somehow worth it. They had an absolute blast - and our night at the fair was complete!

By now this time around I have

- felt the baby move

- gone through at least ten rolls of toilet paper to blow my nose (thanks hormonal allergies)

- craved salsa, candy, and deli sandwiches

- not thrown up once

- had a severe aversion to avocados or guacamole and olives... even writing the words makes my stomach churn

- decided what I think the baby is (a girl)... but we'll have to see.

- thought how crazy I am for having another one already... my two seem to be plenty, but I guess it's too late now:)

Third times the charm

This pregnancy has been heaven when compared to my other two. (knock on wood) I have still been needing Zofran and Reglan for nausea... however, with them I am able to completely manage it. I have not actually thrown up once this whole time! And 98% of the time I feel great. It is pretty awesome. I have not felt the need to stuff myself with pizza and rolls either - also due to the lack of nausea. This equals less weight gained which is a major plus. I do however crave sweets and salsa... but not together:) Anyway, more on the pregnancy to come, including belly pics. I am 4 months, and still don't appear that pregnant, mostly just really full, but I guess that is ok. To make up for no belly pics now, I will leave you with these two cuties...