Brixton Stone Mirr

Our little man is here and he is such a doll! I went in for an induction on my due date...I couldn't take it another minute. We went in at 7am and after I was all set up with pitocin I was contracting and dilating just as I was supposed to. After the doctor broke my water we had a little scare. Brixton's heart rate kept dropping with my contractions and would not come back up. I then had to have a shot of terbutaline to stop my contractions all together (which I was all too familiar with from my pregnancy with Greyson). The doctor decided to fill me back up with a synthetic amniotic fluid before starting the pitocin again. This seemed to make Brixton happy. I continued to dilate and got to a 9 1/2, but Brixton never dropped down. The doctor had me push for about 45 minutes and there was no progress...the kid didn't budge. My doctor proposed the idea of a C-section and I jumped all over it. They wheeled me in, prepped me and Brixton was out in minutes...well technically 13 hours and 50 minutes later. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times. They said once was common, twice on occasion, but three times was unheard of. This was the reason he wasn't handling the labor after my water broke and also why he wasn't dropping down. We are just glad that he is finally here and that he is healthy.

Welcome to the world sweet boy!

3 Weeks Left And It Feels Like An Eternity!

9 months is an extremely long time to be pregnant and the final 3 weeks is just pure torture! Technically at this point any day could be the day...and 15 minutes ago wouldn't have been soon enough! We all know that I am NOT one of those happy go lucky annoying pregnant ladies that just LOVES to be pregnant! Now don't get me wrong, I have been so blessed to be able to get pregnant and to have two healthy pregnancies, but the reality is that pregnancy is just not fun for me...at all! Here is a list of reasons why:

1. I get FAT...REALLY FAT!

2. Morning sickness is just plain awful!

3. The smell of my husband and everything else around me makes me wish I only had 4 senses.

4. The veins in my legs look like I gave Greyson purple and green markers and let him go to town...and those support hose are extremely sexy, especially in the middle of the summer with shorts and flip flops.

5. My chest and butt are the same size as my stomach...GROSS!

6. Hot water on my face annoys the heck out of me. I have to adjust the shower temp if I plan on getting my face wet.

7. I go from angry hormonal woman to an emotional wreck in less time than a Bugatti Veyron goes from 0-60mph (That's less than 2.6 seconds for those of you wondering.)

8. I have nothing to wear because NOTHING looks cute on me!

9. Between the "mask of pregnancy" and the lovely pimples, my skin is disgusting.

10. My hair is greasy and frizzy.

11. I can't breathe, sleep, or bend over past 28 weeks.

12. My feet...just chop them off.

13. Can you say HEARTBURN?!!

14. I have actually resorted to peeing in a cup when I am out and about because I refuse to stop every 15 minutes and get Greyson out of his carseat to do the whole bathroom thing.

~

I could easily go on and on, but this is more than enough to remind me (and Chad) that 2 kids is just the perfect number for us!

Greyson's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old! This year's birthday theme was "Party Like A Rockstar". Greyson's love for music and instruments was my inspiration.


The Invitation


"Hollywood Walk of Fame" which included all of the kid's names.


The trick here was to keep Greyson off the back of the couch so I wouldn't have to hang the stars a hundred times before the party started.


Each party favor bag contained a microphone, a kazoo, star stickers, guitar bubbles, a rockstar tattoo, yogurt covered pretzel rods made to look like drum sticks, and a CD which included Greyson's favorite songs.


Auntie Whitney made cupcakes with music notes on them. We also had star-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.


Here is the birthday boy sitting in the birthday chair! He is very excited about blowing out his birthday candle!


Please keep your eyes on Greyson and not the fat pregnant lady!

He tried to blow out the candle a few times but I couldn't seem to get the candle in the line of fire...I had to help a little.


What kid doesn't love cupcakes?!

Carter

Brayden


Ella, Julia, and Isabel or Julia, Ella and Isabel :-)


Greyson sharing a bite of his cupcake with Auntie Whitney.


Birthday Hug


Diego & Regan


Auntie Whitney tattooed all of the kiddos.


Griffin apparently doesn't have a very high pain tolerance.


Daddy and Greyson were found in the laundry room taking a little breather from all of the chaos. I find it very hard to believe that they may actually have been doing laundry!


For some reason I never got a picture of Charlie! This was actually taken at Diego's birthday party a few days later, but I had to include him!!! That look he is giving you says it all!!!

We had a HUGE hail storm toward the end of Greyson's birthday party...it had to be a record breaker for Arizona, especially in October. The smallest piece of hail was the size of a golf ball. There were a ton of dents in all of our cars along with a little house damage too. This is a picture of Greyson and Diego watching the hail come down.

We waited until after the party to open Greyson's presents. 2 year olds just don't have it in them to sit and watch another 2 year old open presents. This gift was a big hit with Greyson, but not so much with Chad. He thinks it's just an accident waiting to happen...time will tell.

Greyson had a great time at his party and he is so proud to say that he is 2 now. I am having a difficult time accepting the fact that 2 years went by so quickly. My baby boy turned into a kid overnight! Daddy and I are so proud of you Greyson. You amaze us daily. We love you more than you will ever know.

Uh Oh...He Regressed!

Update...We did great with the potty training for just about 3 months and then we hit a brick wall. Greyson lost interest completely and started having way too many accidents! Since he started so young, we decided to just take a little break until after the new year. The baby will be here within the next month and I'm sure that probably won't help the situation. For now he is back in diapers. It would be nice if I actually got to enjoy this little break from visiting the bathroom umpteen times wherever we go! Unfortunately, I'm 35 weeks pregnant and that is just not going to happen :-)

Potty Piggy Bank

We started potty training Greyson at 20 months. I know that's a little young to start, but he was showing an interest so we went for it. We tried the sticker chart thing, but that was only exciting the first 6 times. I decided to can the whole idea and start again when he was really ready.

Fast forward two weeks. That's when we fell upon the "potty piggy bank"...by mistake of course. I was at Target and came across a cute piggy bank. I figured he would enjoy filling up his bank with coins and possibly even learn the names and amounts of the different coins in the process. When I brought it home and showed him how it worked, his only goal was to "get money". After he cleaned out my wallet and Chad's pocket, he hit up Ta Ta and auntie Whitney. That's when the little bright bulb appeared over my head, "I bet we could bribe him with money to go potty!" I pulled down a huge cup of change that Chad had on top of the closet and I showed it to Greyson. "Greyson, when you go pee pee in your big boy potty you can pick 1 coin out of this cup to put into your piggy bank."

Believe it or not, from that point on Greyson consistently began peeing in the potty! Now I must tell you, it wasn't "Mommy, I have to go potty!", it was "Mommy, I gotta get money!" I was entirely ok with the fact that money was his motive. Afterall, it was getting the job done and I figured he wasn't always going to ask for money to go potty. I mean really, my 16 year-old son, "Hey mom, can I borrow the car? Oh, and I just went pee so can I get a quarter?!"

Now the poop thing is an entirely different story, we're working on it.



This is how he does it... just like daddy! Well, kind of.


Sportin' his BIG BOY underwear.


My little Calvin Klein underwear model.

Greyson Showing off His Geography Skills to Tata

Greyson is quite the little scholar. I hung a map of the United States in his playroom and he has been learning a state a day. At 19 months (when this video was taken) he knew the western half of the U.S. At 21 months he now knows all 50 states! I have to admit that I was learning right along with him...geography has never been my strong point!

It's A...!!

Here we are sitting in the exact same booth we sat in when we found out Greyson was a boy...what a coincidence. We managed to order our food and eat our salads before we had Eric (the waiter) open the envelope. I was willing to wait until after dinner, but Chad was eager and wanted to discuss names during dinner. Not having to twist my arm, we handed the envelope to Eric and watched him open it. "Congratulations, it's a boy!" he said. Needing to see some proof, I reached for the ultrasound picture and took a peek...there it was clear as day, a penis! The picture is kind of grainy and small, but trust me, it's there! We are so very excited that Greyson is going to have a little brother...now we just have to agree on a name!

Bor or Girl?!?!

I am 18 weeks pregnant and am anxiously waiting to find out the sex of my second baby! The results are sealed in an envelope which Chad and I will have our waiter open at dinner this evening. Morton's is our favorite restaurant and we always celebrate special occasions there. We did the same thing when we found out Greyson was going to be a boy. It kind of adds a little extra excitement to finding out and also makes it a little more memorable. After dinner we will go out and purchase an outfit for the baby, but not before we have dessert at Coldstone!

My order:
Extra Snickers and Butterfinger mixed into sweet cream ice cream placed inside a waffle cone (the cup kind)... and I wonder why the pounds keep adding on.

Pregnant with Baby #2!!!

Little did I know that what I thought was PMS was actually pregnancy symptoms. Surprise, I'm pregnant! (And I mean SURPRISE!) My pregnancy with Greyson was anything but pleasant and all I have been able to think about for 2 years is, "I can't believe I have to do this again!" Well, the time is here and I currently have 16 weeks under my belt...which means 24 long weeks to go. I can't help but wonder if my pregnancy is harder on me or harder on Chad??? I am happy to say that I am no longer sick and finally have a little energy back. On the flip side, I am extremely irritable, getting fatter by the hour, and looking anything but sexy in my support hose. Despite the blah part, Chad and I can't get over the fact that Greyson is going to be a big brother...crazy! The last week or so when I have gone in to get him out of his crib in the morning, the first thing he says to me is, "Baby in mommy's tummy...I want to see it." Try explaining that whole concept to a 19-month-old!!!

Greyson's First Sentence

Greyson is 15 months and saying tons of words now, but today he said his first complete sentence! This morning Greyson was having much more fun playing in my bedroom than in his playroom. I decided to move from the playroom floor and crawl back into my bed since the opportunity presented itself. Greyson apparently didn't see me do this so when he walked into the playroom to find me, I wasn't there. That's when I heard Greyson say, "Mama, where ARRRRE you?" It was precious...I couldn't jump out of bed and swoop him up quick enough! I planted a big kiss on his cheek and said, "Mama is right here!"