Party of Four

Wow, how time flies!  We’ve been so busy lately, that I haven’t had a chance to update our blog.  For starters, Blakely Madeleine Maner was born on September 9^th, 2012!  She is such a little sweetheart and we’re so blessed to have her.  A little about her…

I was scheduled to be induced the night of Sunday, September 9^th which meant that Blakely would be here the next day.  We were trying our hardest to avoid having her on her actual due date, 9/11.  We had the whole day planned.  Wake up, get ready, go to church, have brunch, go home and relax while Paxton takes his nap, get the hospital bags ready, drop Pax off at Zinet’s, then head in to the hospital at 5pm.  Funny how nothing went according to plan!  Here’s what really happened…So, we wake up the morning of the 9^th and get ready to go to church.  As I’m getting ready, I started feeling some cramping, but just figured it was nothing.  Well, the cramps continued and were often enough that we decided to skip going to church…just in case things progressed, we wanted to be closer to the hospital.  I called the on-call doctor and he said it sounds like they’re contractions (which I had never experienced contractions before, not even with Paxton since we were induced and I got an epidural almost immediately).  He said if they get to be more consistent and are causing pain, then to go to the hospital and they’ll check me out.  So, we went out for breakfast.  The contractions continued, but were manageable.  After breakfast, Alan and I decided we’d just run up to the hospital to get checked out…thinking they’d send us home.  So, we dropped Pax off at Zinet’s house and went to the hospital around noon.  Turns out I was already 5 cm dilated!  Needless to say, they checked me in.  The contractions got worse and worse, they gave me a little Pitocin to help me progress, more pain, finally they gave me my epidural at about 7 cm (why they didn’t give it to me earlier is beyond me...I wasn't a happy camper), then 7 hours later, little miss Blakely was born at 7:19 pm…by the on-call doctor (dangit!).  Although I would have preferred my doc, he was actually really nice and everything went smoothly.

My parents went to get Pax to come up and meet his new little sister.  He wasn’t jealous or overly excited.  His sister ‘brought’ him a couple of gifts…he was more interested in those than anything.  Later on, my parents left and took Paxton with them so we could bond with our baby girl.  The nurse brought Blakely into our room for a feeding around 1am (yes, we had her stay in the nursery so we could get some sleep, don’t judge) and she was very concerned about Blakely’s coloring, she said she looked really yellow and had already called the pediatrician and done some blood work on her to check her jaundice levels.  Next thing I know, I’m getting a call from the pediatrician who tells me that Blakely is at an 11 which is really high for a baby who’s only 6 hours old and that if the level goes up, there is a possibility of her having to get an IV (which they usually administer into the baby’s head, yikes!) or even potentially a blood transfer!  Needless to say, I was freaked out!  So, they took her to the NICU and immediately put her under bilirubin lamps.  It was so sad seeing her there with little goggles over her eyes and nothing else but a diaper.  She had to stay in the NICU until the next day, then they moved the light set up to our room so we could be with her the entire time.  She would cry in there, and the only thing that would calm her down was when Alan sat next to the light set up and held her hand.  We were only allowed to take the goggles off and take her out to eat every 2 hours for only up to 30 minutes, that’s it.  It was horrible.  Not the experience I was hoping for during her first few days of her life.  I was discharged from the maternity floor on Tuesday and the pediatrician wanted Blakely to stay in the hospital until her bilirubin levels went down some more.  So, they let us stay with her in the pediatric unit for one more day.  After that, her levels had dropped enough for us to safely take her home.  She was under the lights for 62 hours.  We were able to leave the hospital on Wednesday, but we had to rent a mobile bilirubin light that wraps around the baby and use that for the next couple of days at home.  We were willing to do anything for our little girl, and were so thankful they let us go home.

Under the bilirubin lights

We’re so blessed by all of the visitors that came to the hospital and to our house.  Family and friends brought us food and other goodies, prayed for us, and helped take care of Paxton. 

First photo of our new family of 4!

  

I love my mommy

Meeting Pops for the first time

This is my Nana

And this is my daddy, I love him

He's already wrapped around my little finger

First headband :-)

Going home from the hospital

I love to sleep with my arms up

My brother loves me so much

This is the bilirubin light we had to bring home.  She looks like a glow worm!

My Great Auntie Lala gave me this beautiful outfit

Just hanging out with my big brother

Don't drop me, Spiderman!

My brother is so silly

He thinks he's the baby



Great Grandpa and Grandma with their great grandkids

 More pictures of Blakely and Paxton can be found here

Paxton's 1st Circus

Paxton's first trip to the circus was amazing!  At first, we weren't sure if he'd sit still long enough to enjoy such a thing (at 27 months old, we're not sure how long something will keep his attention), but now that it's all said and done, we are thrilled that we decided to go. 

Before we went, we kept telling him that he was going to see elephants, horses, and lions.  He seemed excited and would say, "Lion, RAAWWWRR!!!"  Once we got there, we found our seats and the show started.  Once the first elephant came onto the stage, Paxton was sooo amazed.  He kept saying, "Elefunt, elefunt!!!"  Then, when the elephant left the stage, he was legitimately concerned, "Where elefunt go?"  We told him it'd be back, and he agreed, "Okay".  Sure enough, the elephant came back along with about 5 other ones.  He was just mesmerized.  Pax loved the lions too.  He kept saying, "Lion rooooaarrr!" while they were on stage.  And after each segment of the show, he would throw both arms up in the air and yell, "Yayyyyyy!!!!"  Such an awesome kid!

Seeing Paxton's enjoyment at the circus is just one of a million amazing moments of what being a parent is all about.  We couldn't take our eyes off of him the whole time, just waiting to see what his next reaction would be.  Cannot wait until the next time the circus is in town...we'll be up front and center!!!

More pictures from Paxton's 1st Circus

Silly Boy

Paxton always has us laughing.  He has silly conversations with himself and once even had an argument with the Talking Tom app on his phone.  He'll say something and then answer himself, it's too funny.  A conversation will go something like this, say he's talking to one of his stuffed animals:

Paxton:  "Stay there, okay?"
Paxton:  "Okay!"

Here are a few other funny things he's done recently:

We were driving in the car and Alan was being funny and said, "Uh, uh, uh girlfriend" as he waved his finger in the air.  Paxton immediately copied him and has been doing it ever since.  Here's a short video clip:

Took off his diaper after his nap and peed all over his crib.  Speaking of peeing, another time he peed off the catwalk of our house down to the floor below...awesome.

Ran to the kitchen to tell me, "bear potty".  Then he dragged me to the bathroom and I see this.  How clever!

He loves to take showers and clean the tile.

Loves this sombrero, he'll even wear it into restaurants!  (I couldn't resist adding that mustache)

January, February, March...

Once again, this little boy has amazed us.  At 26 months old, Paxton already knows the months of the year.  Well, most of them.  I tried to catch it on video, although he's talking with a chicken nugget in his mouth.  It's funny how he starts off saying the months, then it turns into numbers, then we start with the days of the week.  Funny child! 

I Can Count!

Ok, so I'm not sure if this is pure genius or not, but Paxton can count all the way to 10...by himself...with absolutely no help!  He started doing this literally the week after he turned 2.  Although I wish I could take credit for teaching him, I have to give props to his nanny.  When she puts the kids in timeout, they have a number chart they're suppose to look at and start counting.  She starts this when the kids are about 1 1/2 yrs old or so, and even though they can't read, she will count for them.  So I don't know if this just means that Paxton is always in timeout or if he's just a sponge like most toddlers and soaks up everything he hears.

The only reason I know Pax can do this on his own is because one day we were putting a temporary tattoo on his hand (a Spongebob tattoo, of course), and in the process we got a wet rag and placed it over the tattoo.  I said, "Ok, let's count.  One...", then he continued for me, "two, three, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten".  Yes, I know I left "seven" out...that's because for some reason Paxton doesn't think that number exists.  Each time he counts, he skips right over it.  We're working on adding it back in though!

Here's a video of my little Einstein counting to 10...minus the 7:

Gymnastics

Gold medal!

Since Paxton has SO much energy and is constantly jumping around, we thought it'd be fun for him to take a gymnastics class.  I signed him up for a 4-week class with his buddy, Callen.  Little did I know that this was more of a mommy and me type class.  Not that I mind, but it's hard being pregnant and getting down on the floor to do stretches and routines with the kids.  And with as much energy as Paxton has, he would run around from one place to the next with me following him and trying to teach him how to do somersaults, flips over the bar, walk the balance beam, etc.  I think I was more worn out after the class than he was!  Since Paxton had just turned two, his attention span is still not very long, so him listening to directions from the teacher only lasted a short while.  All in all, he had a great time running around trying new things.  Maybe when he gets a little bit older I will put him in another class like this...anything to burn some of that energy he has!

 At the end of each class, the teacher blew bubbles for the kids to pop.  For some reason, Paxton thought you should pop them, and then eat them.  Silly boy!  I was able to catch him eating his bubbles on video.

Paxton's 2nd Birthday

Can you believe Paxton is already 2?!  Time sure does fly.  He decided he wanted a Spongebob birthday party, so we went out and he picked out a Spongebob cake a couple weeks before.  Ever since he picked it out, all he could talk about was his Spongebob cake.  If you'd ask him what kind of cake he was getting, he'd yell, "BOB BOB!" (his version of "Spongebob").  Nana had bought him a Spongebob shirt and shoes, so he was all set for his party.

We had his birthday party at this place called Planet Pizza.  It's been around ever since I was a kid!  It was always so much fun going there because they had it all...rides, games, and a play area with tunnels and slides.  All the kids got to play until it was time for pizza and cake.  Paxton's favorites were the tea cup ride and the bumper cars.  There was a small roller coaster that we put him on and he freaked out, so they had to stop the ride so we could take him off...poor kid!  After pizza and cake, it was time to open gifts.  And let me just tell you, trying to get a 2 year old to concentrate on opening all of the gifts before playing with each of them is pretty much impossible.  After he opened one gift, he wanted to take it out of the package and play with it.  So, he was upset when I took it away and tried to have him open the next one.  Oh, and watching all of the other kids try to help him open his gifts was hysterical!  They would start opening them before Paxton was done with the one before.

All in all, it was a great turnout and a fun time for everyone.  Thanks to everyone who made Paxton's 2nd birthday so special!

He loved this little carousel

Pax and his cousins...and sweet little Callen over there on the left

Trying to bump into Daddy

Preston and Greyson

This is the ride Paxton was NOT a fan of

Time to eat!  Pax, Carlie, Carsyn, and Lauren

Callen, Anthony, Preston, Greyson, and Tara

The infamous Bob Bob cake

Happy birthday to you!

He knew exactly how to blow out his candles!

More pictures from the party can be found here