A tale of two boys

Last night at 10:15, this is what one of our children looked like: This is what the other one looked like:

And this is why Nate no longer takes naps I guess, he's up all night when he does. He was still wide awake at 11 when I went to bed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

... my child is a freak.
Tonight we had someone bring us a nice normal dinner. Macaroni and cheese, salad with zucchini, some extra zucchini, orange slices, and dessert.
What was Nate's favorite part? The only part that he even ate?
The zucchini.

Firsts

Last night Olivia had her first sponge bath. Interestingly enough, it happened right after her first diaper blow out. But her first week of life she didn't spit-up very much, so she didn't need a bath, however, the past 2 days she has spit-up a little more, so she was starting to smell. She didn't mind getting her face cleaned. She didn't like getting her hands and arms and neck cleaned. She loved getting her hair washed. It makes me want to wash her hair every night just because she seemed to like it so much! Hooray for clean babies!

Swimming fun

This week we finally set up the blow up pool on our deck. I was worried that Graham was going to have nothing to do with it again this year, however, he seems to love swimming all of the sudden. That is, as long as he doesn't get splashed too much! But they have asked to go swimming pretty much every day, several times a day since we set it up. It's nice that they can swim here, since it'll be another month or so before I can even consider taking them to a real pool. And then of course, there's the issue of what to do with the baby while we are swimming. So yeah, good thing we have this pool for the kids!

Meet Olivia

Welcome Baby Olivia!

Olivia Ann Markham was born on June 16, 2010 at 11:45 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz, and was 19 3/4 inches long. This is her story. A few months ago I was looking at the month of June and thinking about having a baby. I was induced at 41 weeks with Nate, and we weighed in at 8 lbs 5 1/2 oz. I was induced with Graham at 40 weeks, and he weighed 8 lbs 13 oz. I was thinking that I was not liking the trend of babies getting bigger even though it was an earlier gestational age, at this rate, even if I had this baby a week early she was set to be over 9 lbs, and I was not looking forward to that. So I thought, let's get her out as soon as we can. The practice that I go to has a policy that they will not schedule a delivery any more than one week early. My 39 week mark happened to be on the 16th. So I was thinking about that, and several things went through my mind. The biggest thing was that June 16th was my dad's birthday. So then I had to think if I would like to have her on his birthday or not. I came to the conclusion that it would be really neat if that could happen. That way, this little girl, who never gets to know her grandpa in this life, will get to share this special day with him. I mean, we already buried him on Graham's birthday, and Nate is named after him, so it would be nice if Olivia could have this.
So I asked the doctor at about my 35 week appointment if I could be induced on that day, and she set it up for me.
Shoot forward to June 16th. I was told to call the hospital at 6am to see if they had room for me. To no one's surprise, they didn't, and I was told to call back at 8, which I did. Then they told me that the charge nurse was busy, and she'd call me back. (yeah right) so I called back at 10, and they told me to have a light lunch and come in at 11:30. So we made our way over to the hospital.
So we got checked in, and down to labor and delivery, and slowly things got started. I was GBS positive, so that was going to slow things down for me. They started me on the first round of antibiotics, and a pitocin drip, but they were not going to break my water until the second round of antibiotics, which has to be 4 hours after the first. After about an hour on pitocin I started to have contractions, and after about 2 hours they started to get stronger and more regular. Eventually I decided that since the dr was available, and since I was planning on it anyway, I would go ahead and get an epidural. My dr said that I could have one whenever I wanted. I'm always nervous about the epidural, but this one was probably the best one that I've had yet. I loved that I got it lying down on my side as opposed to sitting up and leaning over. Anyway, it worked great.
So eventually I got my second round of antibiotics and they broke my water. We really just hung around for a long time. Jesse and I read books for a while, and Jesse took a few naps. Finally at about 9:30 they came in to check me, and I was at 4 cm. So that was great news. At that point I figured that I was not going to have the baby before midnight. It was taking forever! But I was about as comfortable as I could be sitting in labor and delivery, so what else was there to do but wait it out.
After that I must have taken a little nap, because the next thing I remember was waking up at about 11. I had started to feel the pressure of the contractions, and I thought that was kind of weird, because previously I hadn't felt a single thing. I was wondering if the epidural was wearing off or something. About 15 min later it changed from feeling the pressure of the contractions to feeling the pain of the contractions. It reminded me of what I felt the last hour of being in labor with Graham. So I called in the nurse, and just said that I was in more pain than I wanted to be in. As it happened, the doctor was not doing anything at the time, so she came in with the nurse. She checked me when she came in, and said that I was ready to have the baby. It was about 11:30 at that point. She then went on to say that I was going to have the baby before midnight. So I was pretty excited about that. So they got things ready, and called in the baby nurses, and pretty soon we were ready to push. I pushed for maybe 5 minutes or so, and there she was!
It was at that point that I was thinking that there was some Divine intervention, as well as a lesson on faith and patience. So I had to wait until the last minute, but there she came, at 11:45 pm, and now Olivia gets to share a birthday with her Grandpa White. I can't wait to tell her about what a great man he was, and why it's so special for her to be able to share a birthday with him.


Here she is the next morning, after being cleaned up, and everyone got at least a few hours of sleep. Jesse was trying to take pictures of her when he first arrived with the boys while she was in her bassinet, but Nate and Graham were not interested in being patient to get a good look at her.

The boys were super interested in looking at her. Nate wanted to be right there close to her head for the first little bit. He had no interest in holding her, and it took him a while to warm up to the idea of touching her, but he sure liked looking at her.

Graham was quite nervous about me being in the hospital. He kind of freaked out whenever I was sitting in the hospital bed. It's a good thing that I was dressed in regular clothes instead of a hospital gown. It's also nice that recovery was so easy with this one that I didn't feel the need to stay in bed. At one point though, they were there while the nurse came in to get my vitals, and he completely freaked out while I was sitting there getting my blood pressure taken.

But he loved the baby, and he did want to hold her. Since we've been home there have been times that he has been very interested in holding her again. He wanted to carry her and walk outside with her. I had to explain that he was only allowed to hold her while he was sitting and someone was there with him.

But seriously, look how cute he is with her!

So now we've been home a few days. Things are going pretty well. She's still pretty sleepy in general. We've had our challenges in nursing, but well, it wouldn't be me if it had come easy! And after succeeding with Nate, I can pretty much nurse any baby. But things are starting to get better, so that is looking positive. I became friends with the lactation nurse at the hospital when I had Nate, and just recently we became friends on facebook, and it has been so nice to have her just an email away! I suggest that all gestating women become friends with a lactation nurse!

A few things about Olivia- she has tiny little dimples. They are not very pronounced, but they're there. Her favorite position right now is to be belly in against your chest up against your shoulder. She had random bouts of short intense cries. Even while she's sleeping, they don't usually wake her up. It sounds like she's just been hurt badly, but no one has done anything to her. She can sleep through the hiccups, and they really don't seem to bother her so far. She really is a very good baby so far, and hasn't really cried for no good reason.

So there she is, our sweet little Olivia. We are glad that she came to join our family, and look forward to getting to know her better!

More fun times

So I'd like to get up to date on our activities before the baby comes, because well, who knows if she'll be a baby who lets me blog.
On Thursday, we went to a local park in the area, Piney Run. It was a popular park for us to take field trips to while in Elementary school. We hiked around the lake for a bit, and made our way over to the Nature Center. The kids enjoyed being able to run along the trails.
At the Nature Center there was a "beehive" which the kids thought was pretty cool.
Nate also really liked the stuffed Beaver.


All of the Grand kids with Grandma. We had all just come up a steep little hill, so it was convenient to have a little bench to rest on.


On Friday we took a trip down to Baltimore. We started out trip on the Metro. My kids happen to love the Metro.

We stopped at John's Hopkins Hospital first. Matt works there right now, so we got him, and went to lunch in the cafeteria. The kids did pretty good in the hallways, at walking quietly. Things did get a little hairy in the cafeteria, especially when they finished eating, but they did their best. It was a little weird for me, since it was the first time I'd been back there since I was there when my dad had surgery to remove part of a tumor. It seemed like just a few months ago, it's weird to think it had been about 2 years.
After the Hospital, we got back on the metro, and went down to the Inner Harbor.


We were headed to the Science Center. My kids hadn't been there since Erin was last here, over 2 years ago. It is just about the perfect place to take 6 kids 8 and under. They enjoyed being able to run around, and touch everything, and play with things.

After spending a little time in Newton's Alley, we worked our way upstairs to the children's room. It's great because it's got a guarded door, so you know that your kids will have a difficult time escaping. We did pretty much keep an eye on them though. :)

They enjoyed playing at the little water table area. I'm thinking we'll need to get a water table for Graham this year. The kid likes to play in the water, but hates being wet. So I don't foresee much time IN the swimming pool for him this year.

Another crowd pleaser:

And of course, if there is a train table, Graham will find it, and want to play there. The boy loves playing with trains.

We wore him out pretty well that day. Of course, this is him falling asleep on the metro one stop away from the end where we were getting off. But he stayed asleep as I carried him to the car, and then slept the whole way to my mom's house. It will be so nice when we are finally back to normal napping times!

On Saturday we had a few things that we needed to get done, and Nate had a birthday party, and we thought it would be nice for Graham to have a nap at home. So we hung out most of the day at home, and then at dinner time the whole family made it over to Grandma's house. We had a cook out, and then hung out for a while. There was a quick rain storm that passed through, but afterwards, we made a fire in my mom's fire pit. We made s'mores, and then the fireflies came out. My kids really have not had much experience with fireflies, which is pretty sad. The problem is that they don't come out until like 8:30, and that's past their bedtime. So they were excited to stay up and catch the fireflies. Nate did a really good job catching them. Graham wanted to, but anytime he got too close he would freak out.

So that's pretty much it. On Monday we just hung out, did a little shopping. Today is my last day with Erin. I have a few things to do in the morning, and of course, I can't stay late because tomorrow I'm having a baby, and I have things that need to get done at the house. But we'll just hang out one last time this afternoon. It's been nice to have Erin here. It's getting harder for her to come out, since she keeps on having more and more kids to buy plane tickets for. And well, it's the same situation for me to go out to see her. So we just make the most of the time that we do have together.

The fun so far

So my sister Erin got to MD a little over a week ago. She is staying at my mom's house, and brought her 4 kids. When Erin comes, I generally stop my own life, and hang out with her every day. So we've done a lot of driving to Grandma's house this past week.

The first day that we hung out together, we drove up to Hanover, PA and toured the UTZ factory. Those of you who live within a few hundred miles of the UTZ potato chip factory know why when it comes to potato chips, only UTZ truely will do. I'm pretty much a potato chip snob.

The second day, we went up to Hagerstown to shop at the Outlet Mall up there. Erin is going on a cruise, and she needed a formal outfit. They don't have many options for her in ID where she lives.

On Saturday since we had a few more adults available, we decided to go down to Washington DC. We hit up the American History and Natural History museums. I think that one day I may be able to go to one of those museums and see something other than the hands on room, and history of transportation, or the hall of mammals, and hall of dinosaurs. We did get a picture of the grand kids with Grandma in front of the large Elephant in the rotunda at the Natural History museum. But the kids were worn out, and we didn't feel like walking too much farther, so we just called it a day after those two museums.

On Monday we took the kids down to the National Zoo. It was a beautiful day, and nice to be down there while it was not too hot and humid.

It's always fun to see the Orangutans out on the O-line. They were particularly active that day.

Aren't they the cutest brothers ever!

I'm trying to get more pictures of the boys with their Grandma. They love her so much, and I just never take pictures because we see her all of the time. I thought this was a cute one with Grandma holding Graham up to show him the lions. (He was very excited to see the lions that day!)

So still to come- adventures at Piney Run park, tomorrow we're going to Baltimore to play at the Science Center. A cook out at Grandma's house on Saturday, and who knows what else. The cousins all love playing together, and it's been nice and warm, so they have been in the pool a few times. The great thing is that everyone is really getting along well too. No bullies in the group, and they have not gotten so tired of each other that they have started fighting. And, not to jinx it, but they are also doing a really good job of sharing all of the toys. We've really lucked out so far. So a little less than one more week with them here, and we plan to make the most of it!

Best Friends

One reason I'm not freaking out about having baby number three: Nate and Graham are best friends. I'm so glad that my two older kids are old enough to entertain each other, and get along so well. They play together all of the time, and really love hanging out together (most of the time anyway.)

Happy Birthday Nate!

How in the world did my baby turn 5? However it happened, it did. I went back and forth about a party this year, but finally decided that full term or not, this would be the last bit of "all about me" time for Nate for quite a while, so we ought to go for it. We went small this year, and only invited the original playgroup from when he was born. I think that there only ended up being 5 or so kids there. It was very nice to have just a small party for him. Much less stress on me.
The kids just played the whole time, inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, and the mommies just sat at the table and snacked. It was lovely. I asked Nate if he wanted to play some games, and he said no, he just wanted to play with toys.
We did have cupcakes, as per Nate's request. He loves cupcakes. Graham got a bit dirty.

Pretty exciting!

That night he was able to open the presents from mom and dad. He got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. That was very exciting.

He got swords and shields. Those were pretty exciting as well. He and Graham like to pretend to be pirates.

And he got a Lego Toy Story 3 train. When he saw this, he said, it's what I always want! He was really excited about all of the presents he got from us.

It only took me about 2 1/2 hours to put together the Lego train. We have managed to only misplace a handfull of pieces in the past week. Although Graham always plays with the Engine, which is the most breakable, so I put that together about a million times a day.

The next day we went to Grandma's house, and we had a joint party for Nate and Aunt Erin. It was her birthday the previous week, and she flew into town on Nate's birthday.

Nate didn't want to blow out the candles though. I think it had to do with all of the new cousins staring at him.

On Sunday we went to Grammy and Grandad's house to celebrate with the Markhams. (Yes, this is the longest birthday celebration ever!) Grammy and Aunt Cammi created a "treasure hunt" where Nate had to follow some strings and ribbons to find his present. It took him downstairs and outside...

Around the corner, to find a bike!

This is Nate's first 2 wheeler. He was very excited about it.

He put the helmet on, and was a natural! He did really well considering it really was about the first time he's ever done it.

So happy birthday Nate! Now you're a big 5 year old. You'll be a Kindergartner this year. You get to have another sibling this year. You'll learn how to read this year. You may even grow bigger this year (but only if you start eating first.) Sounds like 5 will be a pretty great age!