Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

It wouldn't feel like fall without a trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland, CA. This year we went with the Rinderle Family. 

Aislinn's 3rd Birthday Party

Ais wasn't forgotten. It took a lot of effort to throw a party for Ais just a month after Brady was born, but the guilt of not throwing her a party would have eaten away at me! We kept the event small (or at least that was our intention) at the park down the street from us. It was a low-key event with park play, chalk, a pinata, and food. Surprisingly, Brady slept the entire time! Ais had a blast and our friends and family that hadn't had a chance to meet Brady were finally able to do so.

Brady's Newborn Pictures

Thank you Lauren for the beautiful pictures!

Two Kids = Busy Life

Last week we took a mini vacation to Washington to visit Travis' family. It was our first time flying with both kids and they did surprisingly well (maybe we should attempt Hawaii???). My neglected blog was mentioned and I vowed to make an effort to update it. After all, Brady is 9 1/2 months old now and he has not made his debut here! A few catch up blogs are in order :)  Let's start with Brady's arrival...

Brady Lee’s Birth Story

We found out that we were expecting on January 6th when we took a home pregnancy test. Our second baby was officially on the way after several months of trying to conceive. We were nervous about making the transition to having multiple children but excited about the many possibilities our future would hold with this special new gift.

At our twenty-week ultrasound I chose to keep our baby’s gender a mystery while Travis insisted on finding out what we were going to have. Surprisingly, he was able to keep the secret until our little baby boy arrived.

My labor started on Wednesday, August 21^st. I had been home on maternity leave for three weeks and was 37 weeks into my pregnancy. Travis and I had put Aislinn down for bed and gone to bed ourselves around 11pm. I was uncomfortable in bed (which was becoming increasingly common) so I went to the living room to read. Around 12:30 I went to the bathroom and then headed to the bedroom to attempt sleep. Before I was able to lie down, I felt a gush of warm fluid and was surprised to realize that my water had broken.

I woke Travis up and told him what had happened. When 15 minutes passed and nothing else occurred, I started to second guess whether or not I had imagined it all together, but decided to shower and start packing for the hospital just in case. By the time I had finished my shower and dressed I had had a few contractions with water leaking and I knew that our baby was indeed on his (or her) way. I started timing my contractions. They were hardly painful at all and coming 12-14 minutes apart.

I went to the bathroom where more amniotic fluid gushed out, making my contractions far more intense. My contractions went from being mild and infrequent to intense and painful, coming every 2-3 minutes. Feeling a little panicked at how rapidly my labor was progressing at this point, I asked Travis to finish packing and to call his mother so that we could drop Aislinn off on our way to the hospital.

We got into the car and Travis drove like a maniac as my contractions became faster and even more painful. Contractions were coming every 2 minutes as Travis ran every red light and barely slowed for stop signs. Luckily it was after 3am at this point and there wasn’t anyone on the road with us! Even though Travis’ mom lived only a few minutes away and the hospital was fairly close to us, this felt like the longest and most torturous drive of my life.

We arrived at the hospital around 3:45am and were briefly taken to triage before my nurse realized how much pain I was having and decided to take me directly to a room for admission. The nurse started asking some basic questions and set up to put in an IV. I was curled up against the side of the bed in pain and I asked her early on about calling for an epidural. She insisted that we had to take care of a few other things first. At this point, I hated her and everyone else in the world…. Except for Travis, who was rubbing my back and feeding me ice chips between contractions.

The nurse checked me after starting me on IV fluids, calling the on-call physician for orders, and hanging my antibiotic. She said I was 5 cm dilated and that she would call the anesthesiologist. It was about 15 minutes of sheer torture before he arrived. When the nurse attempted to help me sit at the side of the bed, I could hardly tolerate the pressure and told her I needed to push. The nurse had me lie back down to recheck me and realized that I was already completely dilated and that our baby’s head was already low in my pelvis. While it was too late for an epidural, the anesthesiologist pressured me to get a ‘spinal’ dose of fentanyl. Being so close to delivery, I was hesitant to take a medication, but after several moments of contemplation, I agreed. The medicine helped with the pain and I got into position to push.

The OB/Gyn arrived and after only pushing for three contractions, our baby boy came shooting out like a torpedo! He was placed on my chest where he promptly urinated all over me! The little guy weighed in at 7lbs 2oz and measured 20 inches long. The nurses put him on my chest while the physician placed stitches. He was born at 4:51am on Thursday August 22^nd. Although my labor was short, I was so thankful for it to be over, and thankful that our family was complete and I would never have to be pregnant again! Welcome Brady Lee!

P.S.  No, I didn't just write this for my blog (I know you're wondering... and thinking that I'm crazy). I documented these precious moments just a few days after returning home from the hospital so that I could use it in Brady's baby book. 

P.P.S (or P.S.S?) Ok,Yes. I am a little crazy.

Vacation

Travis was determined to take a vacation this summer despite my argument that we should save our vacation hours for when the baby comes. We kept it low-key and just went to Monterey for a few nights which ended up being a nice compromise! We enjoyed staying at the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa (the same hotel we stayed at for a past wedding anniversary) and we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium and rented a surrey to ride to the beach for a picnic and sand play. We enjoyed a nice dinner in downtown Monterey and spent a fair amount of time just relaxing. Here are a few pics from our trip:

Aislinn at 2 1/2!

My little angel is growing so fast and I worry that I will forget all the wonderful things that she does every day... here is a glimpse of an average day at this point in time:
Ais is waking up a few times during the night now that 'Daddy' has taken over putting her down to bed. She yells "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" until he returns to her room to help her fall back asleep (I would not be this patient!) After a mediocre night's sleep, she is up around 7 am to start her day. She comes in to cuddle with me when she wakes up and asks "Ready to get up, Mommy?" Usually my answer is "Not yet... in a few minutes, Ais." I can usually get an extra 30 minutes of R&R before she gets restless.  First items on her agenda are eating, taking her gummy vitamins, and watching cartoons (Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Diego are her favorites). She usually watches a cartoon in the morning while I get dressed and then she dresses herself (she insists on doing EVERYTHING herself!) so we can go on our walk. We almost always stop at the park to play before returning home to run errands or make lunch. Ais still naps, usually from 2-4pm and wakes up around the time Travis is coming home from work so that we can spend family time together. Ais is still very sweet, but has become more stubborn and opinionated since becoming a "terrible" two year old! She likes to furrow her brow and say "No, I don't want to!" to many of our requests. I tell her not to be bossy, and she says, "I'm not the boss. Mommy the boss. I'm Aislinn Abigail Moran!" Ais is starting to be a little more social and no longer shies away when strangers say hello to her. I love to see her becoming more confident around people other than us and our families. She loves to play with her "friends" and she gets excited when I schedule a play date. She plays pretty well with other kids. She has never been the type to grab toys or hit, so the only real battle has been encouraging her to share.... a difficulty for all toddlers! Ais doesn't eat nearly as much as she used to and she has really started to thin out and lose her baby chub, which reminds me all the time that this adorable phase will be over before we know it :( She tries new foods when we force it (which we always do!) but her favorite foods remain yogurt, fruit, crackers, and mac and cheese. Ais wears her big girl panties now and has been potty trained since she turned 2. Pooping in the toilet didn't come as easily at going potty, but we are finally there!  Overall, we continue to be so thankful for this amazing little girl and we hope that she will enjoy being a "Big Sister" in the near future. We love you Ais!

Baby #2 Is On the WAY!!!

We found out in early January that we are expecting a second little bundle of joy :) At this point, I am 16 weeks along and SO thankful to be done with the nausea and tiredness of the first trimester. So far, this pregnancy has been more difficult than the first. I have been much more tired and nauseous than I remember being with Aislinn. I'm sure a lot of that can be attributed to having a toddler to care for this time around. Pregnancy (and life in general) is passing by quickly. It seems like we are always on the move which leaves little time to contemplate the upcoming changes. Work is tiring but going well. I'm working on picking up extra hours to ensure that I qualify for "baby bonding" leave when #2 arrives. Travis and Ais are doing well and looking forward to our family growing come Sept 2013. We are considering waiting until the birth to discover the gender of this little one, but we'll have to wait and see if we actually have the patience for that! I guess we need to line up names for a boy or a girl just in case :)