Good Guys and Bad Guys

Well, it looks like we may have turned a corner. Hopefully I'm not jinxing us, but the family has all been healthy for several days now. Well enough to have had some company this weekend. I've got a few pictures to download and post on those visits so I'll tell more about them later. For now, I wanted to note a few cute things that Dylan's been doing lately so they'll be documented for posterities sake.

"Find Me!"
We hear this a lot. He hasn't yet figured out
that the game works better when you change
your hiding spot every once in a while.
He usually picks one and stays with it for a while.

Dylan's learned his hair and eye color as well as those of the rest of his immediate family and he likes to recite them often. "My hair's brown my eyes blue!" If I've been separated from the boys for a while - like if I'm upstairs napping for a bit or Mike and Dylan's do some errands on their own - Dylan will come up to me, give me a big hug and say "I'm so happy to see you!" Ahhhh...makes a Momma's heart melt. "What's happening (to)" is a phrase we also hear a lot when he's watching something on tv (familiar to him or not) and when he's playing with his toys. The boy likes to narrate his surroundings. (In fact, just after I typed this paragraph, Dylan dipped one of his toys, named Twitch, over the edge of the small sink in the island and said "What happened to Twitch?" Funny boy.)

Several times, Dylan's commented on something random and said "It's beautiful!" (sounds more like boo-ta-ful). We were in a furniture store last week and I told Dylan to let me know if he saw anything he liked and he ran up to a staged area, pointed to a hurricane lamp with rocks in it and said "I like these rocks. They're beautiful."

Dylan Giving Cade a Kiss

These next few cute sayings aren't so new but cute enough that they need to be noted. Dylan likes to get under the covers of our bed and say "I'm comfy and cozy." Very often, he also likes Mike and I to join him under the covers (or on the couch) and say "Snuggle with me." Who can resist that request? Another thing he does is no matter boy, girl or animal, he refers to everyone as "that guy." Last night when one of our weekend visitors was getting ready to leave, Dylan asked us "Where that guy going?"

Dylan and Cade Hanging Out

Dylan's also been developing his pretend play. He'll get two of his toys and have them interact with each other. Just yesterday, he had Spiderman and Guido (from the Cars movies) interacting by hiding in the "cave" together (which was made by my leg and a pillow) and then they had a conversation and started fighting on the rung of the ladder that was out to replace a lightbulb in the living room. I love trying to eavesdrop on what he's saying but he normally catches me doing that and will stop talking and smile at me shyly. I need to work on my ninja skills so I can sneak up on him better.

But, his newest saying is the one we hear most often. He must label every tv character, toy and person we encounter as a Good Guy or a Bad Guy. It's pretty humorous in some situations. It's also pretty tricky in others. While I get that kiddos (and some adults) see the world in black and white, some things are a little more gray. It makes our job helping him label things a bit of an exercise of the mind at times. Given the amount of quality sleep we're getting these days even a simple exercise of the mind is a lot of work!

Cade Michael - 1 Month (+1 Day)

This last month has been pretty interesting to say the least. Everyone in the family is madly in love with Cade. He's cute as can be and we're happy to have him in our family.

Cade Micheal - 1 Month

Having said that, I have a motherly confession...he's hard to like sometimes. I know that sounds awful and it's not something I'm supposed to say but speaking with other mothers, it's a totally natural feeling. You see, Cade can get pretty fussy and stay that way for long periods of time.....better known as colicky. When you haven't slept in months (yeah, I know it's only been 1 with him but I didn't sleep much the last few months of pregnancy either) and you hear incessant screaming that none of your efforts seems to sooth, your nerves get pretty frayed. When your temper is short, you sometimes aren't too happy with the little being constantly screaming at you. Cade already knows how to play me though. After a particularly rough day at the end of last week, I made the confession to Mike that I didn't like Cade very much. Of course, the next day, he was an absolute angel and was a great cuddler. Made me like him a lot again. What a crafty little fellow already!

In just one month of life, Cade has already changed a lot. Physically, he's grown a ridiculous amount. I'm going to try to avoid comparing him to Dylan too much since I'm sure that won't be appreciated in the future, but it's impossible not to in some ways since Dylan's been my only up close baby experience up to this point. For weight gain these two boys have been night and day. With Dylan, I had lots of breast feeding issues and he was only 10 ounces over his birth weight at 1 month - 7 pounds 14 ounces. By comparison, Cade was 8 pounds 5 ounces at birth and at his 4 week check up today measured 10 pounds 3 ounces on the scales. Wow!

Here are his 1 month stats from his wellness visit today:
Length - 22 inches - 79%
Head Circumference - 15.25 inches - 94% (Wow)
Weight - 10 pounds 3 ounces - 58%

Here are some other physical observations\achievements:
Even though it's ridiculously early for these things and probably a fluke - we witnessed him roll both from his stomach to his back and back to side this week.
He likes to kick and flail his arms about.
Sometimes, when all other methods fail us to sooth him, we lay him down. Sometimes he likes it so giving him "alone time" has become one of our first go to's when we need him to chill out.

Developmentally, we're seeing signs of the aging as well. While he cries quite a lot, he's also beginning to talk in other ways. Cooing and sqwaking. Sometimes I have to go look at him to make sure his noises aren't unhappy ones. What can I say, we're still learning a lot about him. He's been smiling lots in his sleep, as most babies do, but today he smiled at his Daddy while his head was being pet. It will be nice when the smiling starts happening more and the screaming starts happening less.

While it's been amazing to have Cade in our family this last month, it's been a trying month for us all in other ways. My first week home from the hospital was really rough due to pain from my episiotomy. Almost 3 weeks ago, Dylan had conjunctivitis (pink eye) which was likely viral since he broke out in hives a few days later and lasted for 10 plus days. Then we thought Cade had conjunctivitis and took him in but it was a blocked tear duct. The next day was Cade's 2 week check up. 3 visits to the pediatrician in 4 days wasn't ideal. The next week, Mike was fighting a cold and then got conjunctivitis himself. Last weekend, Dylan got a stomach bug. This week, I've been feeling lousy (fatigues and achy) and (of course) got conjunctivitis too. Individually, none of these things was horribly traumatic, but all together it's been really tiring and frustrating to deal with so many ailments in such a short time. In total, we've collectively accumulated 6 doctors visits in the last 2 and a half weeks. 4 too many (since 2 were Cade's wellness visits). We're shooting for no more until Cade's 2 month check up.

Enjoy these photos from the last couple of weeks!

Ear Hair - One of Cade's Quirks
He's Like A Little Old Man 

Cade with his cousin Emily.

She likes him a lot!

She likes both of our boys a lot.
(The feeling is mutual.)

Dylan "playing" with Oliver
I'm happy he'll have a brother to play with in a year or so.
I don't think Oliver appreciates the playing as much as Cade likely will.

My Boys + Waffles = Excellent Morning

A Baby Story - Cade Michael

While some folks are really interested in the birth story (you know who you are...the ones that live for the TLC Baby Story marathons) others would rather not think about the details. Either way, I respect your preference. I can empathize with both sides. So, while I'm not going to give too many gory details here, there will be enough detail provided to probably gross out those with really weak stomachs. That's your warning. Read the rest of this posting if you dare.

This is the story of how Cade Michael finally entered this world on his own terms.
After getting bumped from our first induction appointment, having a failed induction attempt 2 days later, we were scheduled for a cervix ripening on the 26th and a final induction on the 27th. This time they weren't going to let me leave without a baby. On Thursday January 26th, we went in for the cervix ripening and was told that it wasn't needed - I was 4cm dilated.

The appointment on Friday the 27th was for 11am and around 9am that morning, it became apparent that I was experiencing "real" contractions and that they were becoming stronger and more regular in frequency. To clarify "real": for a while there, I wasn't sure what I was experiencing. I was up a good portion of the night with something, but the discomfort I was feeling felt more like the GI cramping I'd been having for a while. The extreme discomfort that cramping caused on an almost daily basis was one of the reasons my OB was open to have an induction on my due date (among other reasons). But while getting ready that morning, the cramping I was having seemed to be occurring regularly (20ish minutes apart) and was quickly lessening in between each one. When I realized it was probably real contractions, I gave Mike a heads up to hurry up and get ready because we might need to leave earlier than planned.

When I got a call at 10am to tell us we were getting bumped from our induction time again (busy hospital, huh?), I let them know that the baby wasn't going to wait any longer and we would be coming in anyway. It was time! This baby got to choose his own birthday after all.
Since the induction was a planned thing, my mother in law (luckily) was already at the house and ready to take care of Dylan. We ended up leaving the house around 10:30 and got to the hospital around our planned 11 am appointment time. Now, though, we were one of the high priority folks and not the induced folks that were getting bumped. At this point, my contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart. By 11:30, I was in the antenatal area and hooked up to the monitors that tracked my contractions and the baby's heartbeat.

As we already knew, the labor and delivery floor was a hoppin' place that morning. Once hooked up to the monitors, we sat and waited for a doctor to come in and do an exam to see where I was. During this time, Mike asked me if I'd had a contraction I hadn't told him about (he was timing them) and I told him I hadn't. My regular 6-8 minute interval hadn't happened. It had been about 15 minutes since my last one. Not long after we had that brief conversation. I had the mother of all contractions.....and it wouldn't let up! The monitor started beeping and I sent him for help.

Well, it just so happened that my OB was in the hallway at the nurses station in front of our room in between surgeries. She ducked in to check on us. That huge contraction had lasted 4-5 minutes (we were told it's called a tetanic contraction) and caused a deceleration in the baby's heart rate (hospital lingo - a "decel"). We talked about my wishes (getting an epidural) and she got the doctor on call that day (who would likely be handling the birth anyway) in the room so we could make a plan. At this point I was 5cm dilated. She wanted to get the epidural started right away so that they could then break the water and get the show going.

I'm not sure what was going on behind the scenes or if there was some miscommunication between doctors and nurses but that plan was put into motion in slow motion. I think the nurses wanted to get me over to a delivery room before getting those instructions started but it became apparent to me later in the day that my OB had wished for those things to happen immediately. In any case, they didn't. It was 1:30 before we were transferred to a delivery room, introduced to our lovely nurse Lana and then awaited the anesthesiologist.

At around 2:30, the anesthesiologist arrived. He prepared my back, had a plastic sheet over the sterile area and was getting ready to do the epidural when I had another one of those tetanic contractions. The regular ones I was handling just fine but those tetanic ones were crazy! The baby wasn't a fan either since it caused another decel. The plastic sheet was removed and the nurse and anesthesiologist were helping me move around and switch positions to find a place that would make the baby happy again. The doctor was called in because of the drama and did another exam. At this point, I was 7-8 cm dilated. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that each time I had one of these crazy contractions, it was quite a dramatic scene. Nurses and doctors flooded in, tension was definitely felt in the room, I was being flipped around fairly quickly to get the baby's heart rate back and an oxygen mask was shoved on my face. A little stressful I must say. After giving the baby some time to recuperate, the epidural process was started again and I was out of discomfort by around 3pm.

Then it was time for the doctor to break my water. As has been mentioned before, everyone was really busy. So, as with the epidural, it didn't happen right away. A few minutes after 4, while still waiting for the doctor, my water broke on its own. When the doctor finally checked in with us around 5pm, she determined that the sack hadn't fully ruptured and emptied so she finished the job. Meconium was in the water so that would require a little attention for the baby after birth.

I'm not sure exactly when it happened but I had a 3rd tetanic contraction and I felt it pretty loud and clear even through the epidural. At that point, my doctor that would be delivering was busy elsewhere so another physician came in to check. I don't think he did an exam at that point. With being in a full on epidural leg numbness, the staff asked if we could try to get on hands and knees since that's what worked best in previous attempts to get the heart rate back. I was up for the challenge and we made it happen. The heart rate recovered and all was good.

The thing that was also decided was that I needed some more juice for the epidural. And, even though it was administered, it apparently was not enough because at around 6:15 I had another tetanic contraction. And I felt that one too. By that time, my OB (rather the one on call) was available and came in. I was 10 cm dilated but the baby was "only" in position -1.....they would have preferred for him to be in position 3 before pushing. However, the OB knew how much I didn't want a c-section and was trying to help me accomplish a vaginal birth. So, she asked if I was up for the challenge. Hell yeah I was! First, we had to let the baby recover from the last decel. When it was time to go, I asked for the time and the doctor told me it was "6:33....why....did I need to be somewhere?" My response was "yeah, I'm getting this baby out in 10 minutes." It was time for pushing to commence.

Sometimes that competitive side of my personality can be advantageous. Even though I didn't make my 10 minute goal, I did my very best to get our little guy out and 19 minutes later, he was born at 6:52! However, in helping to get to that goal, 2 other methods were used to assist me - an episiotomy for me (note - this fun souvenir from the birth would cause me excrutiating pain over the next 7 days....pain about 1000 times worse than what I experienced with the tearing I had delivering Dylan) and a vacuum for the baby (his head was kind of crazy shaped that night and had a bit of bruising for the next week). But we accomplished our vaginal birth and got a healthy baby boy.

They took the baby across the room to get his exam, take care of the meconium issue and do whatever else they need to do to a baby once it's born. I was still under the OB's care to deliver the placenta and get stitched up. Delivering the placenta, I was reminded, is really weird. The only more common feeling I can think of comparing it to is getting your wisdom teeth pulled. Although you're nice and numb and aren't feeling pain necessarily, you can feel it being pulled and removed and it's really an icky feeling!

Throughout all of this, Mike was with our new baby boy and I was talking with him across the room about what he looked like and what was going on. Mike was also busy making phone calls and returning texts informing friends and family of the new arrival. I think it was almost 20 minutes after delivery before I got to hold our new baby in my arms. After seeing him, Mike and I agreed that our top choice name would work for the little guy and he was dubbed Cade Michael Hines.

Soon thereafter, they came in to get the official weight which was 8 pounds 5 ounces...a full pound and an ounce heavier than his big brother! I guess that's what an extra 2 weeks cookin' can do to a baby! At 9pm, we were finally transferred to the room where we would be staying for the next 2 nights before we would be released home from the hospital.

The next couple of days were very busy. Cade's first full day of life held a lot of things in store for him. He had a hearing test, had visits from friends and family (he met his Nana and Bumpa, his big brother Dylan, Auntie Maureen and Uncle Joe as well as good family friend Liza), applied for a social security number, applied for a birth certificate, and had his first visit with a pediatrician. She did the full measurements on him and here was the breakdown:
Weight: 8lbs 5 oz - 68th percentile
Length - 21 inches - 70th percentile
Head Circumference - 14.25 inches - 60th percentile
The pediatrician came in later in the day. By that point, Cade had already had 4 poops but had not yet had a pee (very important achievements for his first day of life). Lucky for the pediatrician, she had the honor of seeing his first pee up close and personal...right on her! Too funny! On his 2nd day of life, Cade got a jaundice test (lowest risk...yay!), got weighed again - 7 pounds 14 ounces and had his circumcision. At 3 o'clock we were released to go home. Yay!

After 2 nights in the hospital solo with Cade (Mike went home to check up and tend to all there), I was looking forward to having Mike's support through night time baby care. Of course, it was also great to be home and get to see my oldest baby, Dylan, again because I missed him terribly. We also had my parents visit to look forward to. But, most importantly, this new chapter in our lives was ready to begin!

2 Weeks Later

I'm working on documenting the story of how Cade entered the world. In the meantime, I thought I'd let you know how we've been doing the last couple of weeks. As of today, we will have had Cade at home for 2 full weeks and, for the most part, the transition has been going well. The first week was pretty rough for me physically, but I'll get more into that when I talk about the birth story. I figured I would group all the sordid details in one spot so those who didn't care to read about more of the nitty gritty wouldn't have to.

Just Home From the Hospital
Cade Already Getting Some Loving From His Big Brother

Fair warning here. I'm functioning on not much sleep nor do I have much time to type on a computer (this baby wants to be held all the time) so this post will be fairly disjointed. Just join me for the ride. I'll try to be more focused once I start getting regular sleep again.

We were definitely worried about how Dylan would react to us bringing this little baby home and changing his life as he's known it...as an only child. He's been truly amazing and absolutely adores his "baby Cade." Dylan loves to help burp him, pat his little bum to help calm him, hold him and giving him hugs and kisses. Dylan also doesn't seem to be bothered by the frequent crying which we were also concerned about since Dylan isn't known to be the heaviest sleeper. He's really shown us in the last few months how great he is with change and he's really blown us away with how well he's accepted the new family member. Great kid!

We've had lots of visitors coming by to meet our new family member. While still in the hospital, Cade met his Nana and Bumpa (Mike's parents), his Auntie Maureen and Uncle Joe as well as our good friend Liza. Once home, he met our friend Kari's family, his Mimaw and Pipaw (my parents) and, just today, his Auntie Kristina and cousins Corwin and Jacob. Of course, Cade also met the critters at our house. Being the 2nd infant we brought home, the cats seem pretty unimpressed and life has continued as usual for them.

Oliver's First Run in with Cade - Completely Ignored

Making Oliver Take a Look at Our New Family Member

Mimaw and Nana with Cade

Pipaw and Cade

Mimaw and Pipaw with the Boys
(Dylan wasn't too into having his photo taken that morning.)

Dylan Playing with Cousins Jacob and Corwin 

Corwin, Kristina, Cade, Jacob, Me and Dylan

While my parents were here, we didn't really do all that much. There was a lot of hanging out and baby holding. They helped Mike keep up with chores around the house and helped us keep our sanity in making the transition. The one big outing that was done during their week long visit was Music Together class for Mike, Dylan and my Mom. Another highlight was when my Mom, walking with a fussy Cade, spotted a buck just outside of our dining room window. Mike was quick to grab the camera and got a couple of shots of it before it moved on. Also, since we weren't able to see each other at Christmas, we had a little Christmas gift exchange.

Christmas in February

Since coming home, I've mostly been stuck in sweats purgatory. There have been a few days when we've had visitors that I've looked a little more presentable, but for the most part, it's casual attire for me. It makes it easier to do my favorite thing - cuddle with my boys!

The weather here's been really mild so we've taken a couple of family walks this week. We didn't stray far from home, but it did show me that I think I'm ready to get active again. Tomorrow, I'm starting with some walking goals I've set for myself. As with just after I had Dylan, I have a long way to go to get my old body back. The work has begun! Though, it will still be another 4 weeks before I get doctor approval to start the more intensive work.

Cade has gotten a couple of baths at home now. The first one, done on the kitchen counter wasn't too enjoyable for him. Today, we gave him a tubby in the family size shower this morning and it went much better. The warm steamy air surrounding is apparently more comfortable for him than the cold air of the house.

Cade had his first doctor's appointment a few days after we got home from the hospital. The whole family went for the event. Other than that, we've had two other family outings. One was out to lunch with a friend of ours a few days ago and the other was on Saturday. This time it was a doctor's appointment for Dylan. The poor little guy has conjunctivitis! We got some drops, cancelled the visit from Mike's sister that was supposed to happen yesterday, washed a lot of bedding, washed our hands a lot and tried to keep Dylan away from his brother. His eyes look much better today and he's no longer supposed to be contagious. So far, no one else in the house is showing signs of eye yuck so hopefully we all escaped getting that fun sickness passed on to us.

Other big news on the Dylan front is potty training progress. I thought all we'd been doing lately would cease when Cade was brought home but it has kept on. Dylan's been trying to pee pee on the potty every night before bed. Tonight, a big new development. He went poop as well! I know, I know, not everyone will be excited about that but I think it's huge news! What a big boy he's becoming. One (small) step closer to big boy undies....and one step closer to us only having 1 kid in the house in diapers.

Onto talking about Cade. He's a pretty great little baby. Most of the time, he's pretty mellow. Like his brother, he likes to look around and take it all in. He gets pretty fussy when he has gas but who wouldn't. During those times, he just needs to be walked around and bounced. Outside of those times, he's a big snuggler. Cade's one of those babies (like many) who wants to be held all the time. So, a lot of my day is spent feeding him then snuggling with him while he snoozes. Due to my limited mobility the first week of his life, I broke one of my personal baby rules - no co sleeping. While this is a great tool for many families, it's not something I was comfortable with for many reasons. Never say never though because now I'm doing it and loving it. I'll want to move him to his bassinet eventually but for now, I'm really enjoying the night time snuggles I get with the little guy! (As I type this now, Cade is sleeping on my chest.)

In fact, if it weren't for the baby Bjorn, I'd never have free hands to get anything done. While "wearing" Cade this week I was able to finish up a big project - his room! I still have some photos to order and hang on the wall but the big room reveal will be coming soon. I love how his room turned out and I'm excited to show it off! Soon folks, soon.

He's Finally Here

Happy 1 week birthday to our little boy! Last Friday, just when I was about to get bumped from our induction appointment, I finally went into real live labor and had our little boy that evening. Introducing....

CADE MICHAEL HINES

Born Friday, January 27th 2012 at 6:52pm

8 pounds 5oz

21 inches long

The last week has been one of hospitals, healing and adjusting to this big life change. We've also had visitors to meet the little guy, including my parents who are in the middle of a week long visit. At some point, I'll document the whole labor story and give more details on Cade's personality, Dylan's feelings on his new baby brother and other events that have been happening. Until then, here are some pics from Cade's first few days in this world.

Smoochy Face

Binky Boy

Momma Love

First Family Photo

My Little Boys

Mom and Dad Love Cade

Brotherly Love

Induction Fail

To say I'm tired and frustrated would be a serious understatement right now. Friends and family have all been concerned and really wonderfully supportive but I want to write everything in one spot for ease of communication because 1) there's a lot of information to give (and yet not a lot at the same time) and 2) developments are slow so I didn't want to contact anyone with full info until I had it myself.

First of all, here are the basics of what happened up until today. On Friday, we were supposed to go for a scheduled induction. The hospital was to contact us late Thursday night with a time and confirmation. My mother in law came over so that she could be here for when we needed to leave Friday, which would likely be early. The time for the hospital call came and went Thursday night so I started tracking down who to talk to. Come to find out, there was a mistake in the paperwork, we weren't on the list to contact and it was a full house so we would need to call the next morning to see if they could take us. Next morning, we called the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital, the OB's office and the hospital again. We got bumped. No induction would be happening Friday. Instead it was a visit to Maternal Fetal Medicine for a non stress test that afternoon with a follow up at the OB's office for a what to do next plan. My mother in law was willing to stick around so we could do these things without having to drag Dylan along.

The non stress test went fine. My OB was actually sick so we saw one of the heads of the practice. Normally inductions aren't scheduled for weekends but as this doctor was the one on call Sunday, he was happy to put through the orders for us to come in for induction Sunday. We would be called Saturday night with a time. Thursday night repeat and we didn't hear anything so had to call and pester yet again. We were told to call back in the morning for that shift nurse to assess staff and let us know yea or nay. It was a yea, so we went in at 9am for induction.

My in laws both came over Sunday and Mike and I headed to the hospital. We were admitted, got shown to a room, I changed into a johnny, general health questions were asked and then we had to wait for a bit for the doctor's orders for inducement. Once those finally came, the pitocin drip was started around 11am. With pitocin, they start with a low dose and slowly increase. Apparently the increase over the next hour exceeded the baby's preferences because he became unhappy and the dosage was reset to really low levels. Over the next 7 hours, dosage went up and down according to baby's heartbeat happiness. Unfortunately during that time, contractions never became regular. Oh, I had them and plenty of them. They were just not really intense and would come regularly for 4 or 5 of them and then take a big break. By the end of 8 hours on "the drip," the doctor came in for another check. Still only 2 centimeters dilated and thick (ie baby still way up high)....the same I was at my check up on Friday! Grrr!

We were given 3 choices. 1) Stay the course and see if my body kicked into gear eventually, 2) do a cervix ripening, stay at the hospital overnight and start induction again Monday morning or 3) call it a day, get a good night's rest and go in for plan C during office hours the next day. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and was very tired so we went with option number 3 and headed home. We got there just in time to put Dylan to bed a little bit past his usual time.

This morning, I called the office after they opened and they said they would squeeze me in for an appointment when I got there. Mike, Dylan and I arrived at the office at 10:45. It was fully of waiting patients. My OB was held up in a c-section for some time so we were all going to be waiting a while. We finally got in to see her around 12:30, gave her the story of the previous day and discussed a new plan. New plan is Thursday, if labor hasn't happened naturally before then, we'll go into the hospital, get the thing to ripen the cervix (if needed....will have an appointment on Wednesday to check if there's been any more progress), get monitored for a couple of hours after administration of medicine then go home. Friday morning, we'll come back for induction attempt take 3. But first, an ultrasound to make sure fluid levels still looked good.

After yesterday's fail, I'm very happy to be able to give mother nature a few more days to do her thing. However, all of this hospital time and tests has been beyond exhausting to do and I'm really over it. I mean REALLY over it! As I said, I'm so grateful for all the concern but it's been difficult, to say the least, to keep all parties informed. So, it was easiest for me to detail it here for all that cared to read.

Until you hear otherwise, no news is no news. I promise to put out email and\or Facebook blasts when anything interesting happens. And, if all out there could cross your fingers and toes that this little boy quickly develops claustrophobia and decides to break out, I'd really appreciate it.

Big News (But Not of the Baby Kind)

Today must be documented because it was a huge day at our house. While everyone around expects to hear baby news when I say something about any kind of news (and I don't blame them), this has nothing to do with baby #2 and everything to do with big boy #1.

I was unpacking the last box of books in our guest bedroom tonight. Why? Well, when the nursery still needs to be finished decorating, what else would I be doing? Avoiding the bigger job for a smaller more manageable one, of course! Anyway, Dylan was making noise in the guest bathroom and I called him to ask him what was going on. He said he wanted to sit on the potty.

Now, up until now the only interest he's had in potty training is earning a sticker in the mornings for trying on his toddler sized potty in our bathroom. After he showers, he'll sit on it for a minute, study his Happy Feet Two book of stickers then pronounce he's done, get off and collect his sticker. While I've had nothing to do with pushing this business (new house, new baby soon, bad timing all around), Mike's been the one spearheading the training so I've just been following his lead. Anyway, there was an incident last week where we realized, a couple of hours later, that one of these potty times actually produced a little piddle in the potty. Dylan didn't tell us about it, we didn't hear it happen and we just assumed that the norm of nothing happening had happened. So, it went without the proper post piddle praising. We did congratulate him later of course but it just doesn't have the same effect, ya know?

Back to today. He wanted me to help him get on the adult sized potty, wanted no help holding himself up on the seat and then sat there a while. After a bit, he looked down and said "my pee pee disappear." I followed his gaze and, sure enough, he was peeing in the potty! Yay! What a big guy! I was so proud of him I wanted to burst and even felt a little tear fall from my eye. Funny how this little kiddo's bodily accomplishments can have such a profound effect on me! So kudos to Dylan on a major potty training milestone being met. I'm sure we'll mess up any progress by bringing your baby brother home and ruining life as we currently know it. For now, revel in your accomplishment you big boy!

As for me, well, we're still waiting. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and had the pleasure of enduring a procedure called membrane stripping. It's supposed to help induce labor within a couple of days for 50% of the folks that do it. I'm about 12 hours past that and still waiting for any signs of labor. Paperwork has been started to admit me on Friday for inducement if there's still no baby. However, given that I'm not 41 weeks pregnant yet (my charts show 40 weeks Friday but I know that I hit 40 weeks last Sunday) we'll be low man on the totem poll if our room is needed. That means I won't be counting on anything happening until it happens.

And, in other news completely unrelated to any of this, we got a fun addition to the house yesterday. A hot tub. Yes, I really know how to torture myself. Getting a nice luxury item to sit and watch my husband and visitors enjoy until I wait until after my post partum visit to be able to use. It's something Mike has pined for for some time and I've come around to seeing the fun in having. I figure it will come in handy when I'm kicking my butt over the next year trying to shed this baby weight again.

Until baby comes or I have even more time waiting to write up something else interesting, TTFN!