Haddon's BIRTH day

***Disclaimer:  If you don't want to think about all the details of the birthing process you may want to skip this post :)***

It was a Tuesday, four days after my due date.  I had just had a doctor's appointment the day before and was scheduled for an ultrasound and NST on Thursday.  I was hoping and praying that I would need to be induced and little anxious to meet my baby boy soon, but other than that it was a normal day for Amaia and I.  We went to story time at the library in the morning and saw our friends Sarah, Lainey and baby Wyatt.  The rest of the day we played at home and had a relaxing day.  I had started to have some contractions in the morning and had my suspicions that something was up, but I didn't want to get my hopes up!  I took a nice, long a nap in the afternoon and woke up disappointed that I had slept so well and didn't have any contractions to wake me up :)

About 2 in the afternoon I started to have contractions that seemed to be forming a pattern and started to write down the times.  Sure enough I was having one about every 10 minutes.  I started cleaning house and packing my bag and Amaia's bag as I gained confidence that I was having a baby tonight! My contractions started getting closer together and by 4:30 they were starting to get a little painful.  I called Adam to tell him he needed to get home soon and he was able to get in a full day of work and be home by about 5.  After that I kept timing my contractions, Adam tried to take a nap and Amaia napped away upstairs.  By the time Amaia got up from her nap at about 6 my contractions were 5 minutes apart.  We took Amaia to her Grammie's house to stay for a few days.  I still felt like we should wait it out at home for a bit, but Adam thought we should get to the hospital.  Adam is a wise, wise man.  By the time we got to the hospital and got checked in it was about 7:30.  The nurses apparently didn't think I would be very far along, because I was acting so calm, but they checked me and I was between 6 and 7 cm dilated.  Woohoo!  That meant we got to have a baby tonight!

Adam, again was an amazing coach throughout the whole process.  He made me drink lots of water, reminded me to keep breathing during contractions and basically did whatever I asked of him.  After we got settled into our room I just started pacing around the room working through contractions whenever they came.  I reached 9 cm what must have been very quickly, because the nurse had me lay down in bed after that.  I asked if I could continue standing or walking.  I hate sitting during a contraction and I knew from my labor with Amaia that is really slows down my progress.  The nurse said was progressing so quickly that she was afraid that baby might fall on the floor.  I don't know if she was being totally serious, but I thought that was a valid reason for me to get into bed.  Things did start to slow down for me after I was in bed, but after a little while the nurse we suggested that I turn on my side to see if that would move things along.  The next contraction I had was VERY different that all of the others.  In general, I can deal with contractions.  They are painful, but nothing I can't handle.  However, this contraction kind of made me lose my mind.  I did not do my breathing, I was not mentally in the game, I just kind of freaked out.  After that, things are a little bit of a blur to me, but Adam tells me that during that contraction the doctor and lots of various hospital staff ran into the room.  They turned me back onto my back, I pushed through two contractions and our baby boy was born at 9:18 P.M.!!  It happened so fast and I was SO thankful that it did.  I was so thankful that I did not have to push for long.  In fact, in the weeks leading up to labor it was one of the main things I was praying for.

I actually spent more time in the delivery room after labor than before labor because I had a significant amount of bleeding.  The doctor wanted to monitor my bleeding and seemed a little bit concerned, but I honestly felt fine the entire time.  The only down side was that I didn't get to go down to the nursery with Adam and Haddon.

Looking back on it there are so many things that I am thankful for about Haddon's birth story.  I am so thankful that labor went smoothly and quickly!!  I am so thankful that Adam was able to work a full day before going to the hospital.  I am so thankful that this happened on Tuesday, as we got about 12 inches of snow on Wednesday night and had a blizzard warning all day on Thursday.  And of course, so thankful that we have a healthy, sweet baby boy!

The very first picture of Haddon and I just moments after his birth.  I look relieved because I was :)

Me and my baby boy all cleaned up.

Haddon David Horning

Born December 18, 2012 at 9:18 P.M.

7 lbs 14 oz.

20.5 inches

I have a SON!

Please allow me to introduce Haddon David Horning!!

Our little guy was born December 18, 2012 at 9:18 P.M.
7 lbs 14 oz., 20.5 inches long.

We are all doing really well and adjusting to life as a family of 4! Labor went very smoothly and most of all quickly, which I am SO thankful for :)   Haddon seems to also have his sister's tendency to want to party at night instead of sleeping, so we are working on that, but most of all just really thankful to have our family all together and figuring out our new normal now.

More to come!

38 Weeks: Ready & Rearin' To Go!

Today I am officially 38 weeks along and to be honest I have felt ready to go for a couple of weeks now :)  We are just waiting for baby boy to be ready to go!  When I was pregnant with Amaia, I remember being more than okay staying pregnant past my due date.  I must have been anxious about the changes that were coming.  This time around I am already quite impatient!!  Oh dear, not a good sign :)

However, I have been thankful for more one on one time with my favorite big girl and for more time to get our home clean and organized.  

In an effort to freak Amaia out slightly less when she meets her baby brother for the first time we took her on a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital I will deliver at.  We got to see all the different rooms and a baby in the nursery.  She seemed slightly interested :)  I don't know if it will make a difference for her or not, but it was worth a shot and it was actually a fun little family night out.

I have also been trying to be more intentional with Amaia in talking about her baby brother.  We have the book "God Gave Us You" and pulled it back out at Amaia's request last weekend.  We haven't read this book in months, but we came to this page and for the rest of the night she was pointing to my belly saying "baby, heartbeat, papa".  I am confident that she understood and remembered the times she has been to the doctor with me (and her papa) to hear her baby brother's heartbeat.  I am so amazed at the things she understands sometimes.  She is a smart little girl.

Other than that I have just been prepping the house.  Our house is all decked out with Christmas decor and I have most of our gifts purchased and wrapped!  Today I also finished ALL of the laundry and cleaned ALL of the bathrooms, which is kind of a lot for this pregnant lady.  At my last doctor's appointment I was 2 cm dilated and the baby is low and in correct position, so it really does feel like any time now.  The sooner the better in my opinion :)

Hopefully my last pregnancy update this time around....

How Far Along:  38 Weeks

Maternity Clothes:  ALL maternity clothes all the time

Gender:  Boy!

Movement: Lots of movement and I can tell that the baby is very low now

Sleep:  Not sleeping super well at this point.  I get up every two hours for a bathroom break and have been having lots of headaches in the early morning hours for some reason.  

What I miss:  Being able to run around and do all the things I am used to doing

Cravings: No specific cravings, just craving to meet the little guy!

Symptoms:  I can do very little these days without my body being VERY sore.  It is a bit sad.  Oh and I have a very large belly - that is a pretty big symptom!

Best Moment this week: Adam and I had a "last hurrah" date last night.  We visited "our" restaurant, Thai Flavors and it was glorious.   AND I think we even decided on a final name....still subject to change of course, but I think we made progress :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

From just one of the sweet blessings in my life!

Thanksgiving Tree

I crafted and it turned out well!!  This was possibly the easiest craft project of all time, but crafts don't always turn out well for me, so I was excited about this one.  I have seen this idea floating around in the internet world and really wanted to make it happen. 

I simply asked my parents for some branches from their yard and then placed them in a big vase.  Then I cut leaves out of red, yellow and orange construction paper and tied them onto our tree.  Many more leaves will be added as the month of November progresses.  

I want to do this as a yearly family tradition to teach myself and my kiddos how many things we have to be thankful for.  

"It is not happy people who are thankful, but thankful people who are happy"

I asked Amaia what she was thankful for today and she said "Elmo" go figure :)

Halloween 2012: My Eskimo Girl

I am learning that Halloween gets a lot more fun with little ones in the house.  You get to dress them up as whatever you want AND you get to eat their candy!!  Ha.  I know this will most likely change within the next year, so I am living it up while I can :)

I found Amaia's costume on the clearance rack at Target last year and I think she made a stunning little eskimo girl.  Truth be told, she was not a huge fan of all that fur around her face, but all in the name of cuteness, she tolerated it for her mama :)

This year we didn't go trick or treating (because I knew she was too young to want to do that) but we did visit a few of Amaia's favorite people in costume.

Grandma & Grandpa's house.

 And Aunt Ashley's apartment!  Amaia has a special love for her Aunt Ashley.

That was the extent of our Halloween festivities this year.  I am excited for next year when she will hopefully find more enjoyment in dressing up.  I am even going to skip the sale racks this year in the hopes that she will have a request of what she wants to dress up as next Halloween.

So I'll Remember: Hi Buggy

Are you ready to see the cutest thing ever?!  Actually, this post might be most appreciated by family members, but I think it is just about the cutest thing ever and I want to remember it forever.

As I mentioned before, Amaia has recently become super affectionate to her little stuffed animals and other random books and toys.  I bought a ladybug puppet book at a consignment sale a month or so ago.  The first time I showed it to her she was scared of it, so I stowed it away for a while.  I pulled it back out last week and she is so sweet with it I can't even handle it.

Enjoy :)

Halfway Room Redo's

Amaia is on her way to becoming a big girl and so is her room!  We have made a few changes to her room over the past couple weeks, so I thought I would share.

First, she got a new dresser and we picked out some different knobs to up the cuteness factor a bit :)  The knobs were a great deal from hobby lobby.  Only about $10 for all of them - very worth it in my opinion!  Please excuse her curtains that I still have not ironed :)

The shelves above her dresser have some special books and a few things that were in my room when I was a little girl

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The other side of her room will eventually have a big girl bed and some sort of side table or storage, but I haven't decided what I want to do and she isn't quite ready for a big girl bed.  I know that Amaia loves blankets and pillows.  When we are playing in the living room she loves to get out all the blankets and pillows and lay on them, jump on them, etc. So I improvised with a little blanket/pillow/toy corner in the hopes that she would like it during our little transitional period.

This is how it looks all picked up.

And this is how it usually actually looks.  I think it's safe to say that she likes it :)

She loves to lounge around with all of her books.  All of the sesame street character books are in heavy rotation.

She also loves to have easy access to all her stuffed animal friends.  She is soooo generous with hugs and kisses for all her animals lately.  It's basically the sweetest thing ever.  

As you can see by her facial expression, she is very concerned that her loved ones are well loved.  She is going to make a great big sis.

Lil' man's room is coming together too.  It is nothing fancy or well decorated by any means, but all the pieces are there and it soothes my pregnant soul to feel semi-ready.

The chair will be switched out with the comfy recliner that is currently in Amaia's room upon his arrival.  I did a bit of crafting and made the elephant banners in the corner.  We still need a lamp, curtains, and a few other random things, so it is certainly a work in progress!

Lil' man will sleep in the bassinet for a little while until Amaia is ready to give him the crib.

Our hallway got an addition too.  After 20 months, I finally framed my "push" present aka. the print that my sweet husband gave me at Amaia's birth.  He says she looks like me :)  I only put it off so long because it is so expensive to custom frame!  I'm so glad that I get to see it every day now though.

It feels so good to continue to make our house feel more and more like our home :)

Pretty, Pretty Pumpkins

I am very excited to announce that Amaia and I did your very first real craft project together yesterday! Although I am not good at it at all, I do love a good craft and I am hoping that Amaia shares the sentiment and she grows older.

My parents grew some cute, little pumpkins in their garden this year and Amaia got to "pick" a few from the garden a few weeks ago.  I just taped the letter "A" on one pumpkin and a face on the other pumpkin with painters tape.  We took advantage of the warm weather yesterday and did this project outside.  I really wanted to take pictures of us and our pumpkins in process, but I am quite positive that would have resulted in paint all over my phone, so I refrained. Amaia wasn't sure about finger painting at first.  She is a girl that doesn't like getting her hands dirty.  I guess we both need to learn to embrace messiness with a little boy coming into our lives soon :)  However, with a little encouragement from mommy she started really enjoying it.  She has recently learned a lot of her colors and really enjoyed picking which color to use.

Our pumpkins waiting to dry....

And the finished project...

32 Weeks and growing

We are reaching the end...or at least at feels that way.  I am now going to the doctor for baby boy checkups every other week and soon will be going every week.  I really, really want to be one of those women who loves being pregnant, but I am just not.  I do love the end result of a beautiful baby, but I can't say that I enjoy being pregnant.  This pregnancy has seemed harder on my body, but it really does help to look at Amaia, know how much joy she brings and know that I get to experience that all over again.

29 Weeks (baby the size of a butternut squash)

Lots of people have asked me if I think Amaia understands what is about to happen.  I tell her about it often and ask her if she wants to have a little baby come live at our house.  She likes to play in baby brother's room and try to climb in the bouncy chair that she is far too big for.  If you ask her where mommy's baby is she will point to my belly and often times try to lift up my shirt too :)  I know that she often understands more than I give her credit for, but I don't think it is really possible for her to to understand how her world is about to change.  I am hopeful that she will enjoy having a baby brother from the beginning, but I know it doesn't always happen that way.  However, I know she will love having a brother and constant playmate so much as they both grow older.  She is becoming more and more affectionate with us and with her dolly and other stuffed animals the older she gets too.  She likes to rock her dolly, and hug and kiss all her little stuffed friends.  I can already see her sweet, motherly instincts kicking in.

32 Weeks (baby the size of a large jicama - whatever that is :))

How Far Along:  32 Weeks

Maternity Clothes:  All maternity clothes all the time.  Thankful that I haven't had issues with swelling yet though, so I haven't had to break out the maternity wedding ring yet :)

Gender: BOY!!

Movement:  Lots and lots of movement.  This baby still seems more active than I remember Amaia being in the womb.

Sleep:  Sleeping fairly well, but it is just becoming harder and harder to be comfortable.  I am a back sleeper, so I can't wait to be able to sleep on my back again.

What I miss:  My body being "normal"

Cravings:  No too specific or pervasive craving.  Last night I did really, really want corn pops cereal and Adam provided for me.

Symptoms:  Lots of aches, soreness and organs feeling cramped.  This pregnancy is proving more uncomfortable than I remember it being last time, but that might be because I am carrying around a sweet, yet heavy little girl much of the time.

Best Moment this week: babymooning!

Babymooning

Adam and I have just returned from an almost week long babymoon...or maybe it was an anniversary trip...I'm not sure :)  Either way it was rather glorious to get away, rest, and vacation together before things get a wee bit crazy in this household.  We were really blessed to have the opportunity to do so.

Amaia spent a few days with each of her grandparents.  I knew that she would be well loved and possibly a little spoiled while we were gone and I was right :)  It felt so strange to leave her for an entire week.  The longest I have ever been away from her before was a couple nights, but by all accounts she did great.

I'm also happy to report that another result of our trip was an official backup name for our little man! The name is actually one that I have loved for a while now and have been faithfully trying to convince Adam to love as well.  Unless we come up with something with we both love even more, he has agreed to the name!!  Yea!  One less thing for me to stress about getting done over the next couple months.

We didn't necessarily "do" a ton of things on our trip.  We ate, shopped, saw beautiful views, watched football and did some sightseeing.  One highlight was the Promised Land drive-thru zoo.  We almost didn't go, because I think we were both skeptical of what a drive-thru zoo was.  However, this was the first thing that happened when we entered the zoo....

And we were sold!  If you know my husband at all, you know of his love for lemurs, thus this was amazing!  They were just in a cage in the gift shop.  He got to feed the lemurs, hold hands with the lemurs and learn all about what it would be like to have a lemur for a pet.  After that we drove on a gravel road and all kinds of animals literally came right up to our car.  We have a couple of scratches on the car to prove it.  I have never seen animals so close.  Some of the more aggressive ones were behind fences of course.  I am not normally one to get excited about zoos, but I am so glad that we got to do this.

All in all it was just really great to spend lots of time with this guy.  I love him.

And it was great to not have to cook dinner every night.  I kind of loved that.  Ha.  However, I really did miss this beautiful face!  We both talked about how we missed her multiple times on our trip.

She was her normal sunshine-y self while we were gone, but she did break down in tears the moment she saw us and didn't want to leave my arms for a while.  Break my heart :(  I was sure glad to have her back in my arms too.

Always great to get away and so sweet to come home again.

Fall-ifying & a To Do List

Ohhh how I love fall!  I am thoroughly enjoying the cooler air, pumpkin spice lattes, candles, football and I could go on and on.  

I don't have a lot in the way of fall decor, but the pumpkins have been hung with care....

The wheat is out...

And a fall wreath is on the door....

The fall bug has also hit in the kitchen.  I don't bake often at all, but pumpkin muffins have made an appearance and I am excited for it to be time for spaghetti squash season again.  I also want to try butternut squash this year.  Does anyone have a good recipe?  Oh and I really, really want to go buy a jar of nutella, but my self-control with nutella is not good, so I am resisting....for now :)

A rather large part of my fall to do list this year consists of getting my house and mind ready to have a sweet little boy enter our family, but there are a few other things I want to make sure to do this fall too:

• Take Amaia to a pumpkin farm and become the mamarazzi
• Finger paint a pumpkin with Amaia
• Visit the zoo with Amaia and again become the mamarazzi
• Go on a babymoon/celebrate 4 years of marriage!

What are you doing this fall??

Wordless Wednesday: Little Cowgirl

San Fran

Last week we traveled to San Francisco with my family to visit my sissy and vacation.  We did a lot and ate A LOT!  In fact, we ate way too much, but that is how we do vacation.  The weather was so refreshing, we got our first pumpkin spice lattes of the season and all in all had a great time!  Amaia and I are used to a pretty consistent routine, but she was so flexible and just generally great.  I love her.  She also really seemed to blossom over the course of our trip.  She learned several new words and even her first two syllable word - apple!

We did so much, that I don't even know where to start, so I am going to let pictures tell the story.

I may have been a wee bit stressed/nervous about flying with Amaia, but she did really, really great for the most part.  We even received compliments on how good she was on 3 out of 4 flights.  However,  Adam and I agreed that we don't ever want to fly with a little one again.  Hard work I tell you!  I was Amaia's jungle gym and I have the scratches all over my body to prove it :)

Our first flight was delayed, but I had lots of help chasing her around and we had Elmo on video!

I pulled out a couple books on our first flight and she feel asleep fast - SO thankful!!!

Amaia loved Golden Gate Park!  She swang and slid up a storm.  I even let her go down the slide unassisted for the first time.  Yes, I am possibly over protective :)

Carousel at Golden Gate Park!  She was a slightly skeptical until another little girl came and sat right next us and was loving it.

Golden Gate Bridge with my sis.   Gorgeous day.

 Picnic lunch at a winery in Napa.  Yummy!

Exploring the winery grounds.

A chilly day at the beach.  We let the waves splash over our feet and the water was COLD, but Amaia surprisingly loved it.  She also learned the world "wawa" for water on our trip and she had lots of opportunities to use it!

Amaia was a little bit confused by her new surroundings on our trip and she took a long time to wake up in the morning, probably partly due to not getting as much sleep as she is used to.  One day after she woke up I brought her into bed with us and she cuddled with me for at least 30 minutes before wanting to get up.  This has NEVER happened before!  And it was amazingly wonderful!

We went to Muir Woods to see the redwoods and it was beautiful.  Amaia did not actually like riding on Adam's shoulders, but I thought the picture was sure cute.

Amaia and Aunt Jessica.  Jessica really won her over by the end of the week.

On our last day my parents offered to watch Amaia for the day while Adam and I went into the city on our own.  Some good friends that have great taste had high recommendations of La Boulange, a french bakery and it did not disappoint.  I so appreciate a good coffee.  And we had the most amazing chocolate hazelnut croissant.  Need I say more?

After breakfast and a walk we spent the afternoon cheering on the Hawkeyes!  I admit I had kind of lost hope in our Hawks towards the end of the game, but they pulled it out in the end and it was a really exciting end to the game.  We spent about 5 to 6 hours watching football at this place that day, so Adam was a sweet husband and also suggested we download words with friends on our phones and play together.  He is so sweet to me :)

An early morning at the airport on our way home.  Baby girl was tired and entranced with people watching.

All in all a great trip and lots of memories made :)