Weekend Captured

Snuggles from Grammie
The beer cooler
The spread, mostly prepared by my amazing husband
Took a picture before I decided this isn't safe

Digesting dinner while battling the "enemy"

My perfect pumpkin cheesecake!

Reading the directions for his new potty from Grammie

More snuggles

Digesting some mashed potatoes :)

We had a blessed weekend, full of delicious food, laughs, naps, some good deals and lots of family. My thankful speech at dinner went something like this: Today I am thankful for a husband who loves cooking, taking a shower without a 2 year old in the bathroom and not having to listen for a baby, Joel eating right before dinner, not during, little footsteps through the house and healthy full term babies.

One Month...ish

We are all back home together after spending almost a week apart. We all thoroughly enjoyed our time in Hingham with Grammie and Papa and I am so thankful for the extra help while Peter was gone. He is now realizing just how quiet his week away was! We are gearing up for Thanksgiving and my parents get to come down to spend that time with us. Kale is amazing us daily with new words and his strong will and Joel is filling out nicely! Kale is still getting the hang of drawing ON the paper.
He had lines on his head that made him look like he had seperated his brain into sections.

Papa and Kale playing their Gee-Tars

Wearing Papa's reading glasses.

Kale really loves his "Baby Dole". So much so, we can't leave them alone in the same room!

Joel was a month old on the 12th and he has already changed since then! He lost all his hair on the top of his head so he resembles an old man. He is starting to smile and loves be where everyone is. He doesn't like to burp and is getting up about once a night, if I am willing to stay up when he wakes up at 6. :)

I am definitely overwhelmed at times but every day is a new day! I know this won't last forever and soon both kids will go to bed in the evening and sleep all night.

Yes, I do nibble him regularly

Day by Day

With a month under our belts, we are still hanging in there! Every day is different, some good, some not so much. There have been tears and lots of fits thrown, some by Kale :), but also lots of good times and laughs. Peter and I are learning what it means to parent 2 children and trying to figure out the balance. We are gearing up for some time apart as Peter is going to be traveling next week and then possibly the first two weeks of December. I am going to Hingham for next week so that will be a ton of help but who knows how I will survive in December. Maybe I will buy stock in a wine company before then! :) Always keeping us on our toes and making us laugh.
Little bean is making himself comfortable in our family.

Every morning when I get Kale from his bed, he asks where "Baby Dole" is.

After a particularly long night.

Tweat!

Kale had his first Trick or Treating experience this weekend and I wish I would have video taped it! He was so cute and so proud of himself. We didn't tell him there was going to be candy so when he got his first piece he was pleasantly surprised. He said "Tweat" instead of Trick or Treat and was very polite with his "Nay-you" (thank you). We hit up about 5 houses and our little deviled egg was a hit!

Peter hooked the camera up to the tv tonight and Kale liked seeing himself on the big screen.

Oh right, our second child! Joel is doing great. He is 3 weeks old and fitting right into our family. Hard to believe it has already been 3 weeks but also hard to believe he has only been here 3 weeks!

Before I forget how much it hurt

Joel's Birth Story



I woke up Monday morning around 4 having some contractions but nothing too exciting or consistent. Considering this had happened a few nights before, I was trying not to get my hopes up. However, with the previous times, the contractions stopped by the time I got up and these were sticking around. They were about 7 minutes apart so I went about the morning. Since they weren't going away, I called my more experienced friend and she advised me to call my doctor just to see what she thought. Dr. Wheeler said to come in to Labor and Delivery and get checked and we would do our best to have a birthday party that day. It was so relieving to have someone make the decision for me, even though I knew I wanted as little medical intervention as possible.



We got to the hospital around noon and I had not progressed any further. Contractions were still coming and getting a little stronger. It was a nice change to have Peter drive me to the hospital and be there for the whole process, unlike when Kale was born. We set about walking the halls and stairs to help things get going. The nurse and doctor both thought Joel was face up since I was laboring in my back. After some walking, we did some different things to try to get him to turn. I got in the bath around 2:30 and around 3:00 I could tell things were different. It was definitely more painful and the bath wasn't helping relax me. Contractions were now about 3-4 minutes apart and lasting longer. I got checked again and was now at a 7. In my mind I had 3 or 4 hours left, going at a centimeter an hour. Things were getting intense and the exercise ball was the only thing that gave a slight bit of relief. I was trying to breath and relax through the contractions but that is hard to do when it hurts so bad! I had them check me again around 4:30 and I was an 8. Things were moving along, but not fast enough for me. It really hurt! I was having a couple contractions in a row and trying to focus but that pain kept distracting me!



At 5:00, I asked for the drugs. To quote the movie Baby Mama, it literally felt like I was sh**ting a knife. I wanted to go as natural as possible but if drugs became necessary, I wanted to try an intrathecal instead of an epidural. With Kale, I couldn't feel anything when it came time to push and that was very difficult. An intrathecal is similar to an epidural but only lasts a couple hours. Anyway, I asked and begged for drugs as Peter tried to get me to wait, as I had instructed him in the weeks previous. I was not hearing it! The doctor told me that by the time the anesthesiologist got there, the baby could already be delivered so I did not get the relief, much to my disappointment at the time. I was back in the bed now and really feeling the urge to push. My water still hadn't broken! God must have really healed me back at 23 weeks :). The doctor checked me and I was complete. She told me I could go ahead and push if I felt like it and she was going to get ready to break my water. The pain at this point is what I would describe as unbearable. I remember crying out to Jesus at one point, oh it hurt! As I started pushing, He brought some relief as my water came gushing out. Not only was the bag made of Teflon, but there was a ton of water! Yes, God does have a sense of humor!



I started pushing at 5:32 and oh.my.word. Joel had still not turned face down, the position that is most conducive for babies to come out. Babies that are face up don't fit through the pelvis as nicely and it makes the labor and delivery a lot harder. It took a few pushes for me to find what worked but I could feel him come down the birth canal. They were having a hard time finding his heartbeat externally so a couple of contractions they asked me not to push so they could check on him. This was the hardest part. Resisting that urge.

They ended up putting an internal heart monitor on Joel's head but it wasn't that necessary because he was born about 2 minutes later, at 5:47. Unlike with Kale, I was able to watch my little boy being born. It was all extremely fast and extremely intense. Joel was put on my chest and I admired my second son while sucking down oxygen. He was completely perfect, weighing in at the exact weight his older brother did when he was born. Every day we fall more in love with both our boys and thank the Lord for his abundant blessings.

Now there are 2...

Here are some pics from the last couple days Leaving the hospital
K playing the flute and Grammie playing the gee-tar

Papa meets his 2nd grandson

K's first Bobcat game! "G0 Ga-cats!"

Eating tomatoes on the porch with Papa

Waking up is so hard!

Little peanut

jp

Joel Patrick Moore meet the Internet. Internet, meet our new son, Joel Patrick Moore.

7 lbs 2 ozs 20 inches long

Joel makes 4

" If you think I'm sexy..and you love my body...." I'm sorry, but every time I look at this picture, that's the song that comes to mind.

This was one of the few captured moments of this "first," where Kale asked and held his new baby brother. Approx. 5 seconds later, Joel started to fuss, and Kale just about dropped Joel and said, "All Done!"

Internet...you look good!