Alex Baby Blessing

It's been a busy month. My little sister got married, which made me feel old since she is the youngest and last to get married. It was fun though, and I don't think I've ever seen her more beautiful and confident. It was a fabulous day. And, since the whole family was in town, we did Alex's baby blessing. He is the fattest little thing. Yesterday he cried for an hour before I pulled off his pants and he stopped crying. They were too tight. At this point jammies and one piece outfits are tons easier. Even his new church cords are 6-9 mos pants, and I have to unbutton them. He just turned 3 months this week. He's a big kid, and a very happy one. Adjusting to 3 has actually been good since he is a happy baby. Additionally, William is learning to talk which makes life easier. And lastly, Abby is amazing. She has grown up so much and she is such a good helper. She's smart and funny and I think she is beautiful. I feel bad sometimes because I don't usually do her hair with curls or put it up much. But, she is finally getting enough hair to do it, so we need to start practicing. Anyway, here are some pics from the blessing.

James, Alex, and I

My mom holding Alex

Grandma and Grandpa Slaydon

James, Jared, and his wife Basia

Abby with her cousin Tavner (his mom was here, she was the one taking the pics, thank you Christy!)

Nana and Papa

My parents

Jessica and Dave (sorry Jessica, it was the only pic we had)

Caitlin and Will

Daniel

It was fun to have everyone together. Even Crystal and her now husband Zachary came. He left quickly though since he was late for his own Bachelor Party. Thanks everyone! We appreciate your support and love!

 

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Abby and deductive reasoning

So last week, Abby and I were talking about fingers and what the names of all the fingers were. Pinky and thumb were easy, but she was getting the other three mixed up. No worries though. The next day, I was getting ready and was cleaning my ears out with Q-tips. Abby came in and wanted to clean her ears too.

Mom - If you want to clean your ears, then I need to help you. We have to be careful with the Q-tips so that they don't go into your ear too far and break your ear drum.

Abby - Oh, we don't want to break my ear drum, cuz that would hurt huh mom.

Mom - Yup

Abby - That's ok mom, that's what this finger is for (holding up right pointer finger). This is my ear finger so that I don't break my ear drum.

It's amazing how much they really retain when you don't think they are really paying attention.

Alexander Zethan

It's been forever, but obviously the biggest event is that Alexander Zethan was born on Christmas Eve. I had been having timing contractions for a couple of nights previous. So when I went into labor at 2am I wasn't sure if it was for real. I called the hospital and woke James at 3am, and decided to leave for the hospital at 4am. The contractions were 10 minutes apart at 2am, and 5 minutes apart at 4am. We woke up our neighbors upstairs and gave them the baby monitor to listen for Abby and Will, scraped the ice off of the car and left. At 5am in the hospital, I was already at 7cm, and since I had tested positive for Strep B, the nurses were scrambling to get my IV in with the antibiotics. I started pushing a little after 6am. It took awhile for me to figure out how to push. I've always had an epidural before, and this time I didn't have that. The other issue was that my leg and feet muscles were cramping so badly I couldn't concentrate on pushing. I finally made up my mind that my misery wasn't going to end unless the baby came out, an epidural wasn't an option, which left it to me. It only took two more pushes and he was born at 6:58 am, weighing 8lbs 6oz, and 21 inches long.

I had been hoping I could do it without an epidural this time around. I'm so glad that I did. The other two recoveries were very difficult. This recovery was a lot easier, which was good since there are three of these little people now. The biggest blessing was that for William's birth I was so numb I couldn't push, so the doctor had to use foreceps. They broke my tailbone doing it, and it healed wrong so that it's been very painful to sit for the last 18 months. Alex rebroke it and it healed correctly so that I don't have that injury anymore. The other blessing was the fact that this time I went with a midwife and I was so pleased with that change. They were willing to let me have an epidural if I wanted it, and there was a doctor there in the hospital if something went wrong. It was awesome when she got to the hospital, she knew a lot of pressure points to relieve pain which is how I made it. All in all, it was a great experience for a change. And it was only 5 hours long which was awesome. Here's a pic of newborn Alex

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We actually let Alex pick his name. So, for all of those that participated in our name vote, we had the most votes for Logan Alexander, and that was my personal favorite. James liked Alexander and Zethan, and we agreed that we couldn't decide. So, three days before Alex was born James and I conducted a kick test. The baby was moving fairly regularly, and so we asked him if he liked Logan (pause, no kick). If he liked Alexander (pause, 1 kick). If he liked Zethan (pause 2 kicks). At this point we didn't know if he wanted Alexander Zethan or Zethan Alexander. So we asked him which one and he kicked for Alexander Zethan. It's probably totally bogus, and we were laughing really hard. Mostly because a kick test had worked at all, and then because we seriously considered the results and decided that name was it. So, I think that means that Karen, Kristina, and Jess won the vote. Mostly because the baby voted :D.

Here's me and James too.