Thaddeus Turns Two!

I can hardly believe it!  My baby Thaddeus turned two on Saturday.  He has been such a great joy to our family.  This year with my new camera I was able to document his day from Breakfast to Cake!

He was very excited to pose and smile for the camera.  All day he went around, putting toys up to his face and saying "Cheese!"

I've decided that what is the point of having fine china if you never use it?  So I got it down for birthday dinner.  I plan on doing this again for other birthdays!

What kind of party would it be without presents.  This was the first year Thaddeus was excited about opening gifts.  Though he had to play with each gift before he opened the next gift.  Good thing he didn't get too much...we might still be opening gifts ;)  Favorite gift?  The notebook and pens that Daddy picked up for him.

Of course there was cake too!  I had been practicing with Thaddeus how to blow out a candle the last month...but he got cake fright!  He saw that big cake and smiled but that was it.  Eventually Lincoln and I had to blow the candle out for him.  To his delight!  He got to eat that yummy cake!

Happy Birthday my precious boy!

The Princess Turns 3!

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is 3 today!  Oh those years have just flown by.  She can be a handful at times...really, she tries me in ways the boys could only dream about but still I love her so much.

As I was thinking about her birthday I realized that I started blogging after she was born so I figured it was time for another birth story.  I love me a good birth story (well even a bad one can be theraputic too).

So let's rewind the clocks about 4 years, before I was even expecting her.  I had just spent the better part of a year working while Husband stayed home as Mr. Mom (he did a great job too, though he never assumes I let the kids get into trouble anymore).  Yet I really didn't enjoy the company I worked for and honestly I missed my babies.  So Husband and I decided that I should and could go back to school, I quit my job, Husband found one and I went to school, starting in the winter quarter.

The plan then was to get a degree in English with an emphasis in education so I could become an English Teacher...but plans change.  Like finding out you're pregnant just after starting school!  That was certainly a shock.  We knew we wanted more kids...our 3 boys were precious but really I was hoping to have a girl and we always knew we wanted a large family.  So we had decided to take a baby break and hopefully get pregnant again AFTER I was done with school...God had other plans.

After the shock wore off, we started telling people and let's just say the news wasn't as 'joyfully' received as we had hoped.  It was very much a disappointment to me.  I would go through the stores shopping with my boys and hear women loudly whispering things like 'doesn't she know how that happens' or 'not another one.'  There were people who were happy, but I distinctly remember that it wasn't as happy a pregnancy as my others amongst my friends.

One thing else you need to know is that we didn't find out what we were having.  The one and only time I peeked, they were wrong, Husband wouldn't let me plan for that gender (which was a good thing) and overall I hated knowing...really took the surprise out of it for me (well, we did get surprised anyway).  So never again will I ever find out what gender my baby will be and after I finish this story you might feel the same way too.

So the week I was due came and went with no baby...not a surprise as at that time always overdue.  The in-laws went out of town for the weekend and to be honest I was sick and tired of being pregnant and had been trying all the remedies to encourage it along aside from castor oil...but I was desperate enough to try it again...sure enough the party got started, though it was a slow party.  My labors have been all over the map...long early labors to quick and dirty this one was a little middle of the road...not as long as Samuel's (18 hours) not as fast as Vincent's (less that 6 hours).  Eleven hours after my first contraction I saw HER.

I have delievered all my babies at home, and aside from Thaddeus, they have all been born in our bed.  I tell you without lie or doubt that there is absolutely nothing better in this world after giving birth than to be tucked into YOUR OWN BED with your baby.  To snuggle down with your husband and child to the quiet sounds you always drift off too instead of hospital lights and beeping sounds...that is sheer and perfect bliss.  I know not everyone can have a baby at home but me I can and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Since I was at home and because of the position I delivered in I was the very first person to see her, a truly magical momma moment.  I distictly remember looking down on my baby and checking under the umbilical cord and I knew that what I saw was not boy parts.  Yet as my midwife asked what we had, boy or girl I was rendered speechless...not out of joy, but fear that if I said I had a girl she'd look and say the pain got to me and I was wrong...I had to have a second opinion that I had a girl...A SECOND PAIR of eyes to confirm what I was seeing...so shocked was I to be a momma to a girl.

It has been my joy and privilege to be her momma and I love every minute of it (minus the screaming tantrums) and our life is so full and blessed because she is in it.  When I was expecting Thaddeus I was hoping for another girl because then I'd have a Full House--three of a kind and a pair, but I now realize that Four of a Kind with an Ace is just what our family needs.

{{hugs}}

Buffy

My Baby is One! (and other facts)

So recently we bought a new camera and while I love it...not really loving the software it came with and relearning how to upload my pictures...change can be hard sometimes.  However, this isn't about my camera, or even about me (in parts maybe) no I dedicate this post to my baby Thaddeus who decided to grace our presence this day last year!  Really, it has been a year?  Actually I feel more like finally it has been a year.

Here is my baby, literally hours old!

Thaddeus Xavier Scott who was just over 8 lbs at birth is now well over 20!  He certainly is not being starved.  He started out in the world so compliant and cuddly, now he is cuddly but demanding too!
I think that it took him a while to realize that all the big kids in his home were here to stay, to which he decided his vote counted for like triple!  Other than being demanding, non-scheduleablility (yes I just made up a word), and absolute refusal to wear socks he is a wonderful boy.  He loves to be the center of attention and when he is happy there ain't another person happier!

I think this picture was taken the end of April, first of May.

Now that a year has passed from his birth I think I might be able to safely tell my birth story.  My delay in sharing is not that it was so horrible I can't bear to think of it, quite the contrary it was in fact the best delivery of all of my births.

For about 2 weeks preceeding his birth I was beginning to have 'real' contractions.  Not timeable nor nothing to write home about.  All of my babies thus far were born well after their due dates and I was expecting and early April baby, not March.  I however was very tired of being pregnant because I wasn't sleeping, at all.  Yet, I have my babies at home so the only choices for inducing labor are natural ones and I wasn't that ready to try castor oil.

I remember the day very well.  I woke up consistently through the night from contractions,  then got up at 2 to time them but by 3 they had piddled out.  I decided to stick with the arranged plan, go to my weekly check-up with the midwife then have coffee with my dear friend Wendy.  I had a morning appointment and I told my midwife, Beth, how I had been up most the night with contractions and I was tired of having the birthing pains without the birth.  She offered to check me but I declined mostly because I was certain the birth was well off, at least 2 weeks as I hadn't even hit the 40 week mark.

I met my friend and we talked and had a generally good time.  I know she was amazed that I still wanted to meet with her and further more I was keeping my dentist appointment for that afternoon.  After coffee things are fuzzy but I know I went to the dentist, had a few fillings filled and left with contractions.  By the time I got home, about 30 minutes, I wasn't feeling good and had lost my appetite.  I got into the tub to relax and Husband cared for the kiddos.  Just before 7 my husband leaves with the kiddos for church (which is just across the parking lot).  The older boys were already planning on spending the night with his parents and I told him Elsa should probably go too, even though I was sure I wasn't in labor, but I knew I couldn't handle her at the moment.

All this time I'm timing my contractions and they were all over the map.  Painful as get out, but not regular.  Sometimes they were right on top of each other, other times there were minutes apart.  I however was getting scared, really scared.  I've been in labor before, this is not normal, so I called my midwife crying 'something is wrong' I say, 'I think I should go to the hospital' words that never escaped my mouth before if I wasn't near death.  She told me she would be right over and see what was going on, could I wait?  Yes, I could wait.  Knowing she was coming I was able to relax and while the contractions didn't stop they did slow down, a lot.

At first I was nervous that I was in the really, super, duper early stages of labor and that my midwife will have wasted her time coming to see me.  So I prayed silently that when she got there I was dialated to at least 4cm.  That is the threshold of early labor and active labor.  She arrived just around 8 in the evening and there was a little bit of a rush as my mother-in-law didn't realize I was in labor (not that I had admitted it either) so she was surprised to see the midwife when she came to gather up more things for the kids.  I however, didn't see her at all and was more focused on staying calm.  Beth, my midwife, came and saw me and checked the baby's heartbeat and timed a few contractions.  I imagine that when she saw me, she knew I was in labor but I don't think she realized I didn't know I was!

Around 9 pm she checked to see how far along I was and that is when we got the wake up call.  8.5cm!  I think the number put me into shock.  Really?  8.5, that is well passed early labor how did that happen?  I remember Beth looking at me and saying that I was going to have a baby, that day.  I also remember thinking that it was still early, I had another 1.5 cm plus pushing, that could easily take up 3 or 4 hours. Beth let me digest the news then started getting set up and I asked, to my thinking rather timidly, if I could try for a water birth.  It had always been a dream of mine.  She of course agreed and soon fresh water was running into the bath tub.

The rest of the labor is really a blur.  All I remember is that Beth prayed with me while I was in labor.  That it was harder to push in the tub than I thought it would be and that I delivered the head and was waiting to push out the shoulders and Beth told me to wait and gosh darn it I waited and I was going to do everything she told me too because my baby's head was under water!  I remember the feel of his little body on mine as she placed him on my chest, his body covered in vernix.  I remember looking to see what we had, boy or girl, because we hadn't peeked earlier.  And for the first time in all of my births I cried.

He was born just before 10:30pm and I still can't believe it was that fast.  I'm pretty sure I'll be saying that for the rest of his life.

Taken just this month.  He is certainly a cutie.

Well, please don't slap me as I promise all my labors weren't this easy.  

Happy Birthday Thaddeus Xavier!  Momma loves you!