New House?

Soooo, yeah. The title says it all, right? If only it were that simple. (sigh)

The new news in the Boston household is that we're looking at houses! We had found a fabulous house in the Anderson Mill West subdivision, but we decided to put an offer on it HOURS after some other chumps did. How's that for luck. Here's the clincher. The owners had really wanted to sell the house to us, too, since we were a young Christian family just starting out, but they had just come back from a Campus Crusade for Christ conference all about Godly decision making. Just our luck. I would be putting it mildly to say we were disappointed to lose that house. But you know me, ever the optimistic one. My outlook was that if God wanted us to have that house it would have worked out, so He must have had something better out there for us. And, I think we found it.

On Sunday (not today, a week ago.) we went over to my besty's house so I could feed Hendrix and chat. When we left we passed this house that was for sale right behind them. Ryan pulled the flyer and a short hop down the road while Ryan ran into Randalls to grab a pizza for the demanding Elijah, I called Scott, our realtor, and talked to him about this house. He pulled it up online and we got all excited about it. Anyways, we went to go see it Monday before marriage group and we put a contract on it Tuesday. The only thing that's not perfect about this place is that it's 20,000 more then what we wanted to pay. Ouch. So we will be on the tightest of tight budgets until the Brentwood house sells. I'll post pics once we get past the option period and know a little more for sure that it's actually ours.

Please keep us in your prayers. :)

Oh. And look at these cute boys. :D
Errrrrr.

Official 4 Month Review

Ok. So I waited to do Hendrix's 4 month stats until we had his doc's appointment (which was today).

So here's where we're at.

• 27 1/2 inches long - OFF THE CHARTS!!! The nurse guessed he was probably at about the 100th precentile. It sounds like you're going to be tall like your grandpa Greg!
  
• 17 pounds 3 ounces - 90%
• 43 centimeters in head circumfrence - 75%

When Dr. G (our beloved pedi) picked Hendrix up he exclaimed that he looked and felt like a 6 month old! Big H got check marks across the board and got an excellent bill of health! Yay!! So, things you're doing these days Mr. Hendrix:

• Craning your head so far back you're half way rolled over. Dr. G said that bigger babies like you tend to take longer to roll over just because you poor little dudes have so much more to flip around.
  
• You have the most amazing sense of humor already! Out of no where you'll look at me and just start laughing!!
  
• You talk and talk. I think you're learning that from your big brother. :)
  
• You eat at 7:30 AM, 11:00, 2:30, 6:00, and 9:30 PM. You only eat breast milk at the moment.
  
• You generally sleep from about 10 PM until 7:15 AM and go right back to sleep after your morning feeding until your 11 o'clock feeding. You take 2 or 3 naps during the day about an hour long.
• You love to sit in your Bumbo while we eat dinner and practice chewing while the rest of us are rudely smacking in your face.
  
• You LOVE your exer-causer. You'll sit in that thing for a good 45 minutes on your own sometimes.
  
• The floor mat is one of your favs still. You'll work your way around in a circle just from kicking!
  
• Man are you a kicker!!!
• You love the Little Red Caboose song.
  
• You've learned to suck on your thumb just like Elijah. You hardly ever use or need your paci anymore.
  
• Drool, drool, drool all over the place. I change more outfits on you from drool overload then exploded diapers!!
  
• Your eyes are still grey-blue. Sometimes I think I might see a swirl of brown coming on in your right eye.

I think that's about it and should catch us up to speed. Hopefully, I'll keep up with it in the future and I won't have to list millions of things next time. Although, it's insane how much you little guys learn and change in your first year!

My Baby is 4 months old!!

I just can't believe it. 4 months. It feels like 2 weeks ago was when we brought our newest bundle of joy home from a sweltering hospital room!

Quick jump into the past:

(How cute is that, with his little thumb in his little mouth...)

My poor little Hendrix had a nasty bug bite on his rather bubbular foot so we made a quick trip to the pedi's office to make sure it wasn't anything to worry about like a brown recluse or a crocodile bite. $20 and 30 minutes later the doctor we saw (which I wasn't too impressed with and, thankfully, wasn't our normal doc) said it was an ant bite, but I didn't have to leave feeling like my time was completely wasted. I can now answer the number one question I get when it comes to H........................(drum roll, please).........................

He weighs a whopping 17 pounds and 2 ounces!!! My sweet little chunk. :D

Below's a video I took today...ahem...let me start over. Below's a ridiculously long video I took of him today. Let me explain first that he was exhibiting some movements a lot like those of a sumopotumus thinking about rolling over. I thought, foolishly, that maybe I could catch his first flip on video. I'm sure he had a good laugh about it later behind my back. "Ha! Did you see that woman? Pshhh! She so thought I was going to roll over for her while she was video taping me!! Like I would do that while she was looking!! Ha! Or even while she was in the same room for that matter!!! HAHAHAHA!!!"

Ryan was working on clearing some files off of an old laptop. The sort of chime-like noise that the word processor emitted sounded an awful lot like the noise that heralds the coming of a trash truck down the road. Obnoxious squeaking brakes. Thus explains why Elijah can be heard saying over and over and over and over again "Tra -ash Trunk!!". Now that I've mentioned all the spoilers, here's your feature presentation:

Punk.

Sorry for the delay in writing. I've had some, um...ehem, issues to iron out. ;)

The boys continue to grow much to my adamant protesting. Elijah is a very unruly 2 year old who likes to constantly push the envelope. "How much can I push Mommy today and get away with it?" Punk.

Trip to Zilker with friends and family. Naughty's on the table...

Hendrix is my sweet little smiler. He's 15 weeks (3 months) old and getting nice and plump. He should be ready to pluck and stuff soon. ;) We've extended our feeding schedule this past week and I think he's liking it so far! Here are the stats:

• Sleeps about 9 1/2 hours through the night.
• Eats 5 times a day. Every 3 1/2 hours starting around 7:30 AM.
• Takes about 3 naps a day averaging anywhere from 1 - 2 hours. We're still trying to figure out what's "normal" for his naps because we're out and about so much and, like I said, we're on a new schedule.
  

Hendrix is my smiler. I really can't say it enough. He laughs, like down-right giggles and belly laughs, already much to our enjoyment! Nobody can make him laugh like his Daddy can. That's a snapshot in my life I'll remember when I'm old and gray. (I have to upload my pictures! I'm low on options at the moment.)

Not that long ago...

Elijah continues to be a wonderful older brother with only occasional hand flapping of the babe. I know. Sounds weird, but there's really no other way to describe it. He gets his little hand fluttering like a baby bird trying to take flight and "flaps" little H on the cheek or back or arm... Punk.

This morning when I went to go get Elijah out of his room, he wrapped his little arms around me and ohhh...I almost started to cry. There really is nothing like it in the world. To feel your precious child intentionally wrap their tiny little arms around you and give you a fierce little hug, and if you're lucky a kiss, too. I sat him down on his changing table and gave him another squeeze and we just smiled at each other. I might be more then twice his size, but he sure knows how to bring me to my knees. Punk. ;)

Eskimo Kisses

I haven't forgotten you!

I've been looking for my camera so I could do normal pictures instead of always using my cell, and the good news is I've finally found it!! Now I just have to find the memory sticks and we're golden. I'd feel bad making tons of posts with all those annoying words without cute pictures like this one...

or this one...(awwww!)Big Brother Kisses

So, hopefully, we'll be more consistent very shortly!

Just to catch you up to date, Hendrix had his 2 week appointment on March 23rd and he got all A+'s!! He's more then regained his birth weight weighing in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. And he grew 2 inches!! He was 22 1/2 inches long. His head circumference was 37 cm. So we're off and running!

Monday, March 9th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENDRIX FINNIAN BOSTON!!!

The day my 2nd baby was born. This is mostly going to be pictures because I've had a lot of requests for them. :)

Just to catch you up to current though:

We were discharged from the hospital Tuesday evening. After spending Monday night in the hospital and having the AC go out,I was ready to get outta there asap! Buzz, as you already know is the best doctor ever, helped get us out of there in record time! He preformed Hendrix's circ. right after we talked and then the paperwork was all taken care of. We decided to stay for dinner because they did a special Mommy/Daddy dinner that evening. I had steak and Ryan had fish. It was actually pretty good! They had a heaping side of broccoli on my plate, and if you know anything about m broccoli incident with Elijah, then you know I left my brocs untouched! My advice to all those soon-to-be-Moms out there, when the hospital tries to feed you broccoli, PASS ON IT!! Really, I can try to blame our wanting to leave on the AC, but this is the real reason for our wanting to get home:

We missed our big baby boy. :)

Oh, it was so nice to sleep in our own bed! Since then we've been doing great! Hendrix had his first check up Thursday and his pedi gave him an excellent review! My milk came in Wednesday night, so since then we've been changing diapers nonstop it seems like! And, thank God for friends and family who have kept us fed since we got home. Mary Liz brought us dinner Wednesday and Thursday night, Kim brought us dinner Friday night (tonight), and Randy is bringing us dinner tomorrow night. Our neighbors Ryan, Allie, and Audrey came to visit and our friends Ryan and Stacy Lambert dropped by, too! When you're stuck in the house (especially for a social butterfly like me) visitors are the highlight of my day! My cousins Chuck and Angie are coming by tomorrow to visit. I look forward to seeing them as they live in San Antonio. My friend Marianne might try to stop by, too. I think that's all for the lineup. ;)

On to the good stuff:

L to R: Dr. Moreno, Penny, Ryan, Hendrix, Me.

The one, the only, Buzz; Ryan cutting the cord.

My little dude saying Hi!

Conked out. See that square thing on the white thing sticking out of his diaper? They tagged my kid! It's great! It's like a clothes sensor that sets off alarms if the baby goes beyond a certain point. The tag is attached the clamp on his umbilical cord.

Angie holding H.

Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute!!!!!!!!

More Cuteness.

Family shot.

One of my very best friends, Erin (who's 5 months prego), William, and Neal

Kit, my bestie, with H.

Mother-Son photo opp.

Big Yawn!


Bitter Beer Face...

Awww....

Happy Meesh, Stoic Ryan, Slumberin' Hendrix

The Hospital

Sunday, March 8th:

Dr. Moreno was the doctor on call. We got to the hospital and I stripped down and put on one of those awful hospital gowns. Dr. Moreno came in and checked me. I was dilated to 5 cm and 80% effaced! She put me around -2 or -1 dissent, too (how far down in my pelvis the baby is, going from -4 to +4 which is crowning). She said since I was at a 5 I was staying in the hospital!! She was so impressed and surprised because I wasn't huffing and puffing! She was coming back in like an hour to check on my progress. After that check up I was at 6 cm!! She said that we had a couple options since me and baby were healthy and my water hadn't broken yet. She could either break my water then and see what happened or we could wait and see what happened and try to get some sleep through the night and then break my water in the morning if things hadn't progressed. After her initial exam my contractions had started getting more regular so I decided to wait through the night to see what happened and see if we could get some sleep. They always ask you on a scale of 1 to 10 how the pain is. So I ranked my contractions through the night from like a 1 or 2 to 3. Not painful just there.

I tried sleeping on my own first, but I just couldn't drift off, so they gave me the lowest dose Ambien and I was out for the count!! I should mention, Penny had met me at the hospital and she was with me the whole time at this point! Kit and Travis had come up, too, but left after I made the decision to sleep. Mary Liz, or course, came up, as did my father-in-law, Randy, but they also left after I made my decision.

Monday, March 9th:

When I woke up in the morning things hadn't really changed. Kit came back around 6ish with breakfast for my troops. There's a reason why she's my bestie. ;) Mary Liz came back, but I'm not sure exactly what time that was. Dr. Moreno came in around 7:30 to check me and confirmed that nothing had really changed since last night, so we decided to break my water! Luckily, my doctor chose this time to make his appearance because things went pretty fast after that! Leave it to Buzz to come bursting through the doors complaining that they hadn't called him until this morning to let him know I was there! lol. So, he left to go put some scrubs on, and I decided I should go to the bahroom, before my contractions got too bad. If your bladder gets full it can make your contractions feel worse, and if you have anything in the other end it can come out when you're pushing, so I obviously wanted to avoid both issues if I could!!

I got into the bathroom and almost instantly my contractions started getting real rough and real close together. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to make it out if the bathoom! Everytime I tried to time it between contractions and stand up to get out of there, another one came rolling on. In the end, I got a sensation to bear down and knew I had to get out of there now! Of course, everyone was asking if I was ok during this time, and I had said yes, so please don't think that I was abandoned or anything. I just didn't realize I needed to get out of there so fast until I felt the urge to push all of a sudden! 30 min after I had entered the bathroom, I came barreling out of there saying I had to make it to the bed quick!

Everything had happened so fast and some of it's a blur, but after I got into bed, it felt like almost immediately they were slapping an oxygen mask on me and getting me to move onto my left side. Keep in mind moving is no easy thing when you're having intense contractions. Apparently, the baby had slipped further down into the birth canal and his cord was wrapped around his neck (which they say 1 in 4 babies have the cord around their necks. It's usually not a problem), and the cord was being pinched. That is a problem. So the oxygen was actually for Hendrix and once they got me on my left side things seemed to be ok. Ryan quickly asked Buzz if he had time to go the bathroom, too, before the baby was born and Buzz said yeah, that we were probably looking at another 30 to 45 min at least. (I didn't know this conversation was happening until a couple hours later.) Ryan had considerately used a bathroom in the hall in case I needed mine again. Anyways, I remember them getting me to my left side and everything calming down for a contraction (Ladies, at this stage that's how time is counted. In contractions.) then all hell breaking out again! They're screaming, "She's pushing! She's pushing!!", I'm screaming, "Where's Ryan?! Where's Ryan!!?". Buzz goes banging on the bathroom door telling Ryan, "Baby's coming!!" while they're moving me to the end of the bed to deliver. Buzz is there making sure my cervix is all the way dialated. Ryan's there holding a leg and my hand and Penny is there holding my other leg and my other hand and I push and apparently the head is out. It all happened so fast that I'm asking Buzz what he's doing to me not realizing Hendrix was already coming!! Push number 2 and here comes the rest of him! All of a sudden I have this floppy slimy beatiful baby boy on my chest just eyeballing me and blaming me for disrupting his beauty sleep and I just can't believe Mr. Hendrix has already made his debut!! He was born at 8:29 AM. That's right. About an hour after my water was broken. FAST. I deliver the placenta, which I feel it's delivery this time and they check me over and clean me up. Mary Liz was in tears and as happy as can be with her beautiful new grandson and her amazing and talented daughter-in-law. :D Everything was great. I didn't even tear!! And then my body starts shaking slightly. Penny tells me that I'm just in shock because everything happened so fast and they give me an Ibuprofen to help.

So everything is great! Randy and my brother-in-law, Zach, were in the waiting room and got to see little Hendrix and Kit was, too. Mr. Hendrix Finnian Boston weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 8 ozs and was 20 1/2 inches long!! He has the chubbiest little cheeks and a double chin, but tiny skinny little arms and legs and body! lol...too cute!

Sorry for the delay!

I'm sorry I've kept you guys on the back burner for a bit, but I've been super busy and tired. N0t what you think, unfortunately! :) I had contractions all Wednesday night and Thursday, but they've died down today. So, in an effort to throw myself into active labor I had been running around like a crazed june bug running errands, CLEANING, and having Elijah time.

My doc is going out of town today for a Father-Daughter weekend at his daughter's college, so I'm 'laskin', as my nephew used to say for relaxing, for the weekend so he can come back and deliver H. So get this, my very very good friend almost like a mom to me, Penny, is an L&D nurse at the hospital where I'll deliver and is actually the one who recommended my perfect-fit OB/GYN (I know, probably not the best choice of words...) for me was working the night shift with my doc last night. Penny said he leaned over and said his daughter was only a little more more important (pinching his fingers together with only a smidgen of air between them) otherwise he would stay in town. Then later on that night, I guess when he was leaving so that would be this morning, he screams...yes SCREAMS down the hall to Penny, "Tell Meesh to keep her legs crossed and to keep Ryan out of there until I get back!". Oy vei. LOL. Let me say it again, I love my doc!!!!

So, I've made plans (major jinx, I'm aware) this weekend and I'm keeping my legs crossed and Ryan out! My birthday is Sunday, March 1st. Our plans are dinner at Korea House and cake at my house. I prefaced the invite with, "Of course, I'll probably have to cancel...", so maybe that will undo the jinx.

I'm shooting for the 3rd. Let me tell you why. My birthday is March 1. Elijah's is May 1. Ryan's is June 3rd. So I think it would be great if Hendrix's was March 3rd. :) Anyone else agree??

Ok, time to go feed the bun in my oven. Fish Tacos at Berryhill are $1.99 on Fridays during Lent. Mmmmm. Soooo good. I'm not going to proof read, so sorry if it's incoherant or if things are misspelled. (mwah!)

New Blog!

Soooo, I'm very new to this blogging business, and I must admit that I turned my nose up at it at first. Now? I find myself addicted to my friend's blogs! It just seems like fun and what a great way to keep up with everyone. (Or if we want to be honest, what a great way to be a snoop! Hee hee) Please be patient with me as I try to figure all this out and if you have any advice, feel free to share it. So welcome to my new journal!

Here's my family as of December. Ryan, my husband, the Daddy. Me, Meesh, and obviously the momma! Elijah, our first son, is the one flying. Hendrix hasn't made his debut quite yet, but is evidenced by the rather large bump in my tummy area. His due date is March 10, 2009, but I'm hoping he'll come in the next couple weeks.

Ryan is our bread-winner, and boy do we love him for all of his hard work! Due to his diligent efforts in the money making area, I can stay home with our child(ren)! He works for a large risk management company, which I'll refrain from naming because I'm sure I'll vent about them on here, and he's the worship leader at Marshall Ford Fellowship church. Elijah is my full-time job and sweetheart of boy...except when he practices for those 2s. Lord, help me!

One of Elijah's new big things is finding the Moon. "Moo! Moo!" accompanied with pointing in an upward direction usually tips us off that he has either found the moon or wants to go look for it!

He'll wake up in the morning and I'll hear him over the monitor babbling about feeding the cat or dog. Too cute! After our morning routine, he'll run into our bedroom saying "Daw! Bites!". Translation - "I want to give Rolf, the dog, a doggie treat!". Then he'll run into the dining room to the cat food bin saying, "Meow, Meow! Bites!". After explaining to him (again) that we feed Sasha in the evenings, he'll normally insist again with, "Sha Shash! Bites!".

And, you just think we're done. ;) After breakfast, it's "Ish! Ish! Bites!" and we then feed the fish. My day in a nutshell.

I'm so proud of my little man, too, because he has discovered the potty. He's doing pretty well with it at 21 months of age, too! I went out and got him a Froggy Potty shortly after he started excitedly running into the bathroom saying "Pee!" and tugging on his pants. He's successfully used his big-boy potty around 5 times now! Grandma Mary Liz has jumped on the band wagon and added a big-boy potty to her house, too. That one plays music when you pee in it. The first time it went off, his eyes got a little big, but then he started bouncing up and down. It was a hit! We've been at it for a few weeks now and he's still as interested as ever! Yay! It would be great to not have 2 in diapers at the same time for long! God, please be merciful!

I'm 37 weeks pregnant. For those who aren't familiar with baby speak, a pregnancy is based on a 40 week period. So, I'm HUGE and almost to the finish line. Definitely waddling and groaning everytime I stand up or get up off the floor.

It's funny the things that become important to you in the last gasps of your pregnancy. Sugar. My main things are sweet tea and ice cream. Not together. Mmmm. Cleaning the study. It could end up being Hendrix's room, so I think about that room constantly. Getting our vehicles up-to-date on stickers and maintences. I'm sure there are others.

Ok. It's late. I should at least attempt to get some sleep tonight. :)