This Week

Drew got to be home with us for Ezra's first week and it was the best thing ever! He was SO much help and we had so much fun together. I had withdrawals yesterday when he went back to work and I had to figure things out at home by myself with two kiddos. He is the best husband and dad around! I thought I would post a picture of him with each of the little ones (I have a hard time with the word "kids". It just sounds so weird to me.). I am so glad Ezra has Drew to look to for an example of a great man.

Drew with Ezra

Drew just sent me this picture from his phone and I wanted to use it. I love it.

I turned 26 on the 19th. I really am not a big fan of getting older. It's scary to me. Maybe some day I can embrace it. My friend/family Kristen told me about this little bakery called Frost Me Sweet and I decided that's what I wanted for my birthday cake. This is such a lovely picture of me right? Thanks for the suggestion Kristen!

My "HAPPY CAKE!" I dove in a little early and Drew could only get a picture of four of the six yummy cupcakes. Man they were delicious! There was an Elvis cupcake that was chocolate with a banana cream filling, some kind of caramel cupcake that was my favorite, strawberry daquari, maple bacon, chocolate raspberry, and chocolate peanut butter. YUM!

This was my awesome birthday present! A phil&ted double jogging stroller. Drew found it for a steal on craigslist and I think it rocks! I am so excited to use it except it seems a little too intense for me. I think I actually have to become a runner to use such a fancy jogging stroller. :) We took this picture on my birthday which is only six days after I had Ezra and let me tell you...I do not recommend running that soon after having a baby! Whew! I only ran a few steps back and forth for the picture, but it just wasn't worth it. :)

I actually ruined the surprise because I found the stroller in the closet in the office upstairs a few days before my birthday. My sewing machine was in there and I went to get it. Drew assumed I would never get in there. He was so sad that he didn't surprise me and I felt bad, but I still love it.

I really felt like I had the perfect relaxed birthday. I woke up to Drew and Darcy trying to quietly make me a birthday card. I love things like that. Then while Ezra was still sleeping I went outside and watched Drew and Darcy ride bikes together. Darcy loved that Drew was riding with her and honestly something that makes her so happy makes me so happy too.

I told Drew to do some tricks and he delivered! Look at that air!

Darcy riding her trike in her PJ's. We thought it was going to take her a while to figure out how to ride this thing when we got it for her for her birthday, but it really only took a couple days and now she's a pro.

Sweet girl

My next request was to take Darcy to the splash pad for the first time. I think a splash pad is a great idea! She thought it was so fun and we had fun watching her. She loved the slides. Her tongue is kind of sticking out in this picture. She takes her sport seriously like Michael Jordan I guess.

She decided it was proper form to put your foot on the football while playing in the water.

A picture of the splash pad. This place is cool!

It took her a minute to decide she was ok with the water spraying on her head.

A couple Darcy facts:

-She LOVES Ezra. A little too much. I am struggling with knowing when to let her attack him with kisses and hugs and tickles and loud songs and when to let him have his space. Hopefully we figure that one out soon.

- There are a few things she says these days that crack us up:
- Happy Cake! This is what she calls birthday cake and we have adopted that term.
- She uses the "sh" sound instead of the "s" sound at the beginning of words. She says, "shocka ball" for soccer ball, "shucka" for sucker, "shircle" for circle, "shycle" for motorcycle.
-She says "Yes!" when she is excited about something like when we get to the park she say, "Oh park! Yes!" Cracks me up every time.

I had a little photo shoot with Ezra a few days after he was born. I really would love to take Darcy and Ezra to a professional photographer but I am just too cheap. Why does it have to be so expensive?! Some day I will though. These pictures weren't that awesome in color but I thought they were pretty cute in black and white. He is one handsome little man!

He has been such a great sleeper and I am so grateful for that. I really expected to be totally exhausted at this point, but so far I really am feeling pretty rested. From the very beginning he seemed to know when it was night. LUCKY.

Ezra James Christensen

Ezra is here and we are loving it!! I want to write down the story of his birth before I forget the details.

I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday the 9th where the doctor stripped my membrane. He offered to induce me the next day but I told him no. When I got home and told Drew we talked about it for a little bit and decided we would go for the induction after all. My mom and Ashley came that night to watch Darcy when I went into the hospital early the next morning. I didn't end up going in the next day at all or the day after that. Friday afternoon my mom decided she would go back home and get some things done there, and of course they called me that night and told me they could get me in so she had to come back. Waiting was really hard for me because there was so much anticipation, but in the end I am really happy it took as long as it did because my body made progress on it's own which is what I wanted to happen originally.

We got to the hospital at about 9:30 on Friday night and they took us straight to our room and had me change. My nurse Kim got me all situated and the doctor came in around 10:00. She checked me and I was dilated to a 3. They told me I was having contractions about every 8 minutes which I was really surprised about because I didn't even know I had been having contractions at all. I thought they were just Braxton Hicks. They didn't even hurt! The doctor immediately asked the nurse for the hook and I kind of yelled, "WHAT?!" because I knew that meant she wanted to break my water and it really startled me. I just wasn't expecting things to happen that quickly at all. The other thing that surprised me was that the doctor asked me right after she broke my water if I wanted an epidural. I hadn't even had any pain at that point so I declined right at first. The nurse told me when I felt something I didn't want to feel again to ask for the epidural. Contractions started getting stronger and closer together quickly so about a half an hour later I asked for the epidural. The nurse anesthetist Bill came in soon after. He was so friendly and nice and he worked quickly and was careful to wait for a moment when I wasn't having a contraction to do his work (unlike the man that gave me my epidural with Darcy). After he gave me the epidural he started talking to Drew and we found out he knew all of Drew's Christensen side of the family so that was kind of fun. About an hour after my pain began it was gone, and it wasn't even very serious pain. That was basically all the pain I experienced the whole time. It was amazing. I keep saying I feel like I cheated the system because of how little pain I had.

After the epidural Drew and I fell asleep. About an hour later they gave me some pitocin and I went back to sleep. Around 1:30 in the morning the nurse came in to check me and we were both surprised that I was dilated to a 6 or 7. The babies heart rate had gone down a little, which the nurse said was because of how quickly I had progressed so she went to get the doctor. About ten minutes later the doctor came in to put a monitor on the baby, but I had already dilated to a 9 so she said she couldn't do anything. At this point I woke Drew up to tell him I was about to push. He had slept through the whole thing and was really surprised at what was happening. I dilated quickly to a 10 but wasn't totally effaced so we had to wait for that for about a half an hour. I pushed for 15-20 minutes and some of that time was just waiting for the doctor to get there. At one point the nurse said, "Now you're just showing off" because I was such a good pusher. :) Ezra James Christensen was born at 2:49 in the morning on August 13, 2011. He was 8 lbs. 1.1 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. I know that is a decent sized baby by most peoples standards but he just seemed so unbelievably tiny. At first we didn't think he really looked like Darcy at all but over the last couple days as he has filled out we think he looks more and more like her, but they have slightly different noses. He is tongue-tied like she was (I'm so sad that is a feature I have passed on to both of my babies so far). Oh, and he has huge feet with the longest big toes I've ever seen! They look like fingers. :)

I feel like I am recovering so much faster this time around and I am so grateful for that and how smoothly the labor went. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful healthy babies.

We came home from the hospital Sunday around noon and my mom stayed with us that evening. She made an amazing dinner for us, which I so appreciate as a newly nursing mom. I feel starved all the time! She made us fried chicken, some perfectly mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob from her garden (which basically tastes like candy) salad, peas and carrots, watermelon, and a lemon bunt cake. YUMMO! Drew ate like a king, and I ate like a hog. :) I am so grateful to have family so close and so willing to help. Thanks mom!

Of course we were a little worried about how Darcy would handle this change but she has been a champ. At first she was only slightly interested in him but now she talks about him all the time and loves to help us with him. Drew's parents got her a cute Cabbage Patch doll so she would have a baby to take home from the hospital too and she thinks baby Edwina is pretty awesome. Yesterday she asked if she could hold Ezra so we put her on the couch with him on her lap and she grinned the whole time. I asked her after a minute or so if she wanted me to take him and she said, No! It was so sweet.

She did have a hard time Saturday night when my mom took her home from the hospital and we didn't go with her. She cried and cried all the way out of the hospital, the car ride home, had a little break while she got to drive an awesome cart at the grocery story, and then cried again until she went to sleep. It broke my heart and my moms. I am happy to be back at home with her and for us to get into the swing of things.

We had a really good first night. Ezra woke up a couple times to eat of course, but I just laid him back down and he went right back to sleep. Darcy didn't wake up until 8 so we all slept until then and I woke up feeling rested, which I didn't expect to do the first night. He hasn't been awake hardly at all today though so that might mean tonight will be a little different.

Drew is going to be home this whole week. He gets to work from home Wednesday through Friday and I am so happy about it. We are so enjoying this new addition to our family. Thank you to everyone who has had us in your thoughts and prayers over the last few days. Thank you for your love and support.

Getting settled in before everything got started.

Ezra just after he was born.

Drew with Ezra.

Darcy getting acquainted with Ezra.

Family of four! (Darcy flashing gang signs)

I think it was my dad that first showed Darcy this fish tank down the hall from my room. She wanted to go back and check it out every few minutes.

Snoozing.

Stretched out.

About to sneeze.

A close-up of his sweet face.

I hated the pictures of me with Darcy in the hospital because I looked so ragged, so I got up and did my hair and put some make-up on to have some pictures of me with Ezra in the hospital before we left. Drew said that was proof of how easy the whole delivery had been on me. :)

Right before we left Darcy got up in my bed and she seemed to think she was pretty cool.

Ezra in his civilian clothes ready to go home.

Ready for the ride home.

Darcy holding Ezra at home.

Ready to Pop/Wreath

I'm 39 weeks and 6 days today. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and the doctor offered to induce me today. I told him no, but when I got home and talked about it with Drew we decided that we would just go for it. I was hoping not to be induced this time because I thought the pain would maybe be more manageable if it came gradually. The doctor told me that because it is my second time it would be easier, and I honestly am just kind of ready to be done (not to mention the fact that Drew has a softball tournament next week that he can't miss). :)

They told me they would call me at 6:00 this morning and if they didn't to call them at 9 to see how things were going. I called at 9 and they said they are totally packed and probably won't be able to get me in until this evening at the soonest. I am bummed. I am not good at waiting. I guess today I will be working on patience. So I think we will have a baby tomorrow, on my due date.

Ready to GO!!

I have been feeling like we were seriously lacking some color at our front door so I looked up some ideas for a wreath. I originally tried to make this wreath yellow, but I tried a couple different yellows that just didn't seem right. I'm not usually a red person, because I am not that bold, but after looking at a bunch of different colors I thought it was the best option. It is bold, but I think I like it. I spray painted the wreath, added the little weed thing, and made the fabric flowers. All very easy and fast. (The only kind of craft I am into.)

Everyone come and visit us when this baby comes! We love visitors and don't you feel so welcomed at our front door?! :) (The inside of the house still feels really empty unfortunately.)