In Love Again

We are in love again! Our hearts are full and we are so glad Zack is here!

More hospital pics:

This hospital stay seemed more stressful and chaotic than with Breeley. I was interrupted more often at night and it seemed like there were more people in the room. I admit to having one little break-down when we were trying to get a family picture, but I'll blame it on my hormones!

One rare moment to myself was the night Zack was born. Everyone went to Lizard's Thicket for dinner. I was bummed to be missing Lizard's Thicket's country apples, so I ordered something from the hospital menu that had an apple glaze and sounded good. It was nasty!! I quickly called Brian and told him to bring me some country apples and cornbread! (Mmmm...MUCH better!)

One thing I wanted to make sure to do this time was to see Zack in the nursery. I remember looking at all the babies through the nursery window when I was a kid, but I hadn't ventured down to see Breeley. Zack was getting his hearing test (all good!) so I didn't see him in the window, but at least I got to compare him to some of the other babies born the same day... the hospital staff was right, he is big compared to most of the others!

We came home on Thursday. The pediatrician considered keeping us an extra day because Zack's white blood cell count was a little low. I was positive for group b strep, which can lead to meningitis or pneumonia (or other infections) in infants. I was supposed to get two doses of an antibiotic through an IV while in labor, but my quick delivery meant I didn't even get one full dose, so he was at risk. Luckily, all else looked fine so we convinced her to let us go home! (Second child = more confidence)

Ready to go home!

The backseat is pretty full now!

Ma and Pappy went to our house ahead of us and did some speed-cleaning with an assist from my brother, DJ. I mentioned my messy house, but it wasn't meant to be a hint, I promise! However, it was very appreciated!!

Pappy was originally holding Zack for this picture. That changed when Breeley looked at him and said "no baby." She said the same thing once at the hospital--to me. Hmmm... we'll see where that goes.

Meeting big sister, Reesey. Nothing says welcome like an energetic dog jumping all over you! (Zack didn't seem phased, which is a good thing because it won't be the first time!)

We've only had the baby gear out for about a week and it took one demonstration (coming home) for Breeley to figure out how the carseat works.

DJ stayed one extra night to spend time with his new niece and nephew. He hates posed shots but I love this picture.

We're getting used to our family of four (plus Reesey) and are looking forward to lots of adventures to come.

Zack Douglas Hudson is here!

Our little boy arrived Tuesday, February 23, at 11:47 a.m., at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, SC! We are all healthy and happy!

My labor and delivery story is eerily similar to when we had Breeley, which is ironic considering how worried and nervous I was about Round 2. Things had worked out so well the first time--when and where I went into labor, length of labor, etc.--and I guess this time I was more nervous because I knew that it would hurt(!!), and I didn't feel as prepared despite having done it before. Of course, things ended up working out even better than the first time!

I thought I was in labor sometime around 6 a.m., but I decided to get up and moving to make sure. After folding some laundry and cleaning the toilets, I decided the contractions weren't going away so I called Brian around 7:00 and tearfully asked if he wanted to have a baby today. (Cleaning toilets makes me so emotional!) I'd learned the first time around that I can't wait until my contractions follow the 5-1-1 rule (5 min apart, 1 min long, for 1 hour), and I knew this time we had to get Breeley up and to daycare before heading to the hospital. I did think we were moving a bit too fast though and I kept complaining that I didn't think I was dilated as much as I'd been with Breeley because I'd been in more pain at this point, but Brian didn't want to deliver a baby in the car, so he said we were going to the hospital anyway.

We got an early introduction to having to deal with multiple kid issues, because just as baby #2 was on his way into our lives, Breeley woke up with an unexplicable pain in her foot/leg and could barely put any weight on it. What?! She'd been completely fine when she went to bed! Normally, I would have called the pediatrician right away, but with contractions increasing in intensity, we had no choice but to take Breeley to daycare with instructions to call us if it got worse. Amy had been our on-call Plan B, so I called her to give a heads up about maybe needing her to take Breeley to the doctor.

Here we are when we dropped Breeley off:

We got to the hospital around 9:30 a.m. and--after making Brian take a chill pill in the parking lot (the Breeley situation and me being in labor was a lot to handle) and more complaining from me about not being progressed and being at the hospital too early--we found out I was dilated 5-6 cm and we headed up to labor and delivery around 10:15. News had traveled (the on-duty midwife was the same one who delivered Breeley, Pam Alligood) and the nurses expected a quick delivery, but I was skeptical since I'd been dilated 8 1/2 cm with Breeley and she was born about 3 hours after that. Well, apparently the second does go faster, because I was about 8 cm and my water broke around 11:30 (I didn't like this by the way), and then Zack was born at 11:47 a.m. after 4 pushes. MUCH better than the 45 min of pushing with Breeley... and he was 3 ozs bigger at 8 lbs 14 ozs and 21 in! Another completely natural delivery with no drugs or epidural, and this one was even better than the first!

Zack seems tiny to us, but these are some comments from hospital staff who work with infants every day:

"What a chunk!"
"He's a whopper!"
"Well, you had a 3-month-old!"

He does have the same fat cheeks Breeley had, and a double chin already!














He has dark hair for now, but lighter lashes and eyebrows. I doubt it will turn red (Breeley was born with her red hair).

Breeley met her brother around 7:00 p.m. and loved being able to touch and hold a baby! (Normally, I assume that people don't want a germ-infested toddler touching their baby, but we made an exception for our own.) She seemed to love him immediately. By the way, she limped around for a while at daycare, but her leg was completely fine by the end of the day!

Because they had a 4-hour drive, we'd waited to call our parents until we knew I was in labor, but then I left my cell phone in the observation room, so we weren't able to call until 11:15. They were barely on the road when we called an hour later to tell them Zack had arrived (30 minutes earlier)!

My family (minus Brian and Tina in Idaho) with grandchild #2.

Brian's parents with grandchild #5!

We are so excited to welcome Zack to our family! We love him so much already and are glad he's here!

Valentine's Day Dinner for Two

Thanks to my sister and her boyfriend babysitting, Brian and I got to go to dinner for Valentine's Day! We went to Longhorn Steakhouse... and it reinforced why it would have been difficult with a toddler. We waited more than an hour to be seated and did not end up eating until about 9:00. Breeley would have been miserable by then! But for us it was delightful and DELICIOUS!! Brian always gets steak but I ordered a delicious chicken with parmesan. I'll be savoring that one for awhile; it was SO good!

It is so nice to be able to enjoy a nice meal and each other without having to clean up messes, cut food, keep a toddler in the booth/chair, remind (beg) a child to eat, listen to whining, or have a child climbing all over you. Thanks Amy and Andrew! We'll have to do it again soon! :)

My kind of "no"

Most people who know me well know that I am not fond of snow. As our family and friends in VA have dealt with several feet of snow and multiple snowstorms this winter, I have quietly laughed as our weathermen point to the below-average temps in the 40s as one of our worst winters in years.

However, even I didn't mind when snow began to fall yesterday. Breeley's daycare closing an hour early caused only a minor inconvenience, and at least this time, unlike in the past, it was actually snowing and not just calling for snow (that never came).

I took these pictures soon after we got home. Even I had to admit it looked pretty!

Breeley seemed quite fascinated by the "no" and the kids building a snowman across the street (a regular-sized one rather than the minis that usually pop up when SC gets the normal 1/2 inch). I had hoped she could go out and play in it today, but Brian had to work this morning and it was against my better judgment for my 9-month pregnant self to go out and romp around in the snow. (Luckily, she had been able to play in it when we were in VA for Christmas, so she is not completely deprived.)

We ended up with 5-6 inches! That is the most we've had in the 5 years we've been in SC.

This was definitely my kind of snow! Pretty while it was here and enough for some good snowballs and a snowman, but now, 24 hours later, it is pretty much gone! No shoveling (good thing, since we don't own a snow shovel), no piles at the sides of the road, no cancellations, no messed up plans, no turning to ice, no lost power... even I could handle a few "snowstorms" like this!

I would say I'm tired of the cold temps (Brian has said it multiple times), but honestly, I haven't noticed! My pregnancy hormones have made me so hot the last month that it's usually a relief to go outside! My internal thermometer is so off that my poor child is often underdressed because I don't realize how cold it is until I see all the other kids with hats and mittens! For me, it's been a great thing that it's the coldest winter in years... good thing I'm not due in August!

Zing! Zang! Zoom!

We decided at the last minute (since labor did not seem imminent) that we'd take Breeley to the circus! Of course, it was so last-minute that we didn't plan very well and due to painting the baby's room, naptime, and other errands, we could only make it to the 7:00 show.

Breeley loved the music and all the colors and movement. At the beginning, she did a lot better than last year, when she hadn't seemed interested at all.

She seemed to enjoy watching the animals. At various parts of the show there were horses, zebras, dogs, tigers, and elephants. She paid the best attention to the elephants, probably because they were quite hard to miss! Elephants are featured in several of our books, and this is actually a word she can say. (I won't attempt to write it how she says it... but, like much of her vocabulary, I doubt any of you would understand what she's saying anyway.)

We were all very tired by the time the show ended at 9:30! It was a big mistake to go to such a late show because Breeley got very restless and was much more interested in crawling all over us than watching any of the acts (which seemed more theatrical this year than previous times we've been). Still, I'm glad we went because it gave us something special to do with her in the short time left when she's an only child.

Of course we chose to save $5 by parking in a farther lot, but Breeley loved the ride back to the car! And in an uncharacteristic move for her, she was actually asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car. Zing! Zang! Zoom! I guess that's one way to wear out a toddler!

Daycare Observations: 20 months

At least once/month, Breeley's daycare teacher observes her for 30 minutes to an hour and writes down what she does in that time period. We always get a kick out of these reports because they show us some of the things she does at daycare and are written very literally. Of course, we always end up saying, "Yep, that's her!"

Here is her report from Jan. 14, 2010, 10:10-11:00 a.m.:

Breeley is going up and down the slide. She is going down the slide head first so we had to explain why we can not go down the slide head first. Then she went over to the kitchen. She got a plate and some play food and sat down at the table. Then Breeley got a ball and was throwing it and going to get it. Then Breeley went and got two dinosaurs. Then she went and got a book and came to me and wanted me to read it. Then she took it and went to read it herself. Breeley is doing very well in our class according to her 20-month ages and stages. She is where she should be in all stages of her development.

Hair Doodles

Breeley, unfortunately, seems to have gotten her mother's hair genes, which are of the fine/thin and slow-growing variety. She's had a mullet for quite some time (this does NOT resemble her mother!) and we've been waiting to get her hair cut because she didn't have much hair on the top or sides and we didn't want her to end up looking like a boy. However, perhaps she stole a few of my prenatal vitamins, because her hair has thickened up in the last few months, resulting in several out-of-control hair days (back to resembling her mother). At 21 months, we decided it was time for her first haircut!

We took her to Hair Doodles, a little salon that caters specifically to children. Brian took an early lunch and met us there before his dentist appointment.

Despite being given animal crackers, she spent the first few minutes crying, and continued to fuss a few times during the cut.

 

I was surprised because I thought she'd love the attention, but along with crying, she also yawned throughout the haircut, which explains the fussing.

Even though she didn't seem to enjoy her first haircut, it came out pretty cute! Her hair looked so red after it was cut! 

They saved a little lock of her hair and gave us a "certificate" to remember her first haircut. It's fun to recognize even the small milestones!

Super Bowl XLIV

I am anticipating this year's Super Bowl a little more than usual. This is because Brian has declared Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7) as the day he thinks our son should be born. (In the morning, specifically, so we can be settled comfortably in our room by kick-off.) For those of you who know my sports-loving, masculine husband, his wish makes perfect sense. And so far, he has a 100% accuracy record in predicting birth date. At one of my showers for Breeley, he correctly predicted she'd be born on April 24. I have no idea why he decided to make me go an agonizing week past my due date, but he ended up being right. I'd be thrilled if he's right this time because that's 10 days early!

It is also interesting that the Colts are in this Super Bowl. Brian has always been a Redskins fan, but we are both fans of Peyton Manning, the quarterback for the Colts, so we usually cheer for them (unless their doing well would affect Brian's Fantasy Football game). Colt is actually a name that we seriously considered for our son, although I'm writing it now because it has been ruled out (by me mostly). However, its origin on our list had nothing to do with the Colts; I actually started talking about it because of Colt McCoy, the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns college team. I love that name! Unfortunatley, our last name is not McCoy. Colt Hudson just didn't have the same ring for me. I have "rules" for names (passed on mostly by my parents), and one of them I added after contemplating "Colt" is that I'd like to avoid names that are actual objects. Breeley could point out from some of her books that a colt is a young horse. I remember kids thinking it was funny to call me "Susan Mountain" because of my maiden name "Hill." Haha, I actually laugh everytime I say that because it is so dumb; obviously this was not a life-altering taunt, but I still remember it. I really don't want our son to be called "Horse Hudson." :)

I also ruled out this name because I thought it makes the kid have a lot to live up to. It just sounds like a name of someone who is good at sports. I'll admit that we'd love that to be true, but there is obviously no guarantee about the interests or talents of our offspring. I just can't imagine a glasses-wearing, chess-playing, tuba player with a name like "Colt." (Admittedly, I have no comparison other than the great Colt McCoy, and the picture above.) Anyway, although I think Brian would have liked it to stay on the short list, I ruled it out, but it is ironic that the Colts made it to the Super Bowl. (By the way, our son will not be named "Saint" either.)

The other irony is that this is not the first link between our children and football. Breeley's name was derived from the name of Brett Favre's daughter, Brileigh. Before we were even expecting Breeley, Brian was reading the Internet one day and came out to tell me, "Brett Favre's daughter's name is Brileigh." (I'm still not sure if it is pronounced with a long "i" or an "e" like ours, but Brian pronounced it with an "e." When I agreed to the name, I said we needed to change the spelling so there was no question how it was pronouned, another of my "name rules.") Brian is indifferent about Brett Favre himself, but he liked his daughter's name from the start!

I guess we'll see in a week if Brian's due date predication/hope comes true! Last year, we were in Jamaica for the Super Bowl, which is hard to top. But if Brian's prediction is accurate, this year's Super Bowl will be the best ever!!

Do you need to go to the living room?

Meal times have been pretty rough lately... and by lately I mean for the last few months. I'd say meal times are usually the most stressful times of our day. Pretty much, Breeley stopped sitting in her booster chair as soon as we got it. She wanted to sit on our laps or walk around, continue playing, and graze. We went through about two weeks of her screaming at every meal and us insisting that she sit in the booster. At the time, I thought if she was hungry enough she'd eventually eat, but after no eating and continued screaming, I lost the battle. (Brian gave in first.) Things got a little better when we got her own little table, but the novelty soon wore off and she wanted to sit at the big table, but on our laps. This is no fun. It obviously hinders our ability to eat our own meals and it makes the eating process take a lot longer because she takes forever to eat and one of us has to sit there the entire time, rather than preparing our own meals or cleaning up afterwards. We never know which one of us it will be because she switches back and forth throughout the meal (and every time we have to move her entire ensemble, including "Elmo" [the placemat], her necessary napkin, her cup or cups, etc.). I'll admit that Brian does a lot better when it's his lap time, mainly because right now it is not at all comfortable to have her on my lap, which at 37 weeks pregnant is actually my knees. (Today I told Brian that it is like your underwear is falling down and you can't pull it up b/c I feel like I need to pull her closer but I can't.) Also, because of the distance from the table, I often end up with food all over my belly/lap. It's not uncommon for me to go to work with yogurt or smeared banana on my shirt!

Sometimes even the lap and/or grazing doesn't do the trick and we still begin meals with uncontrollably crying. This is usually because she is 1) tired and/or 2) we are not eating chicken nuggets or pizza. Breeley is actually not very picky, but she does have preferences. She often takes one look at her plate and bursts into tears. Our redeeming quality after giving in to lap-sitting and grazing is that we DO NOT make her a separate meal. Breeley is given what we are eating, and if she refuses to eat it (I can only think of this happening twice), we put it away for when she gets hungry. She must be equally as stubborn because she didn't come back to eat the leftovers either time. (Yes, this means she "went to bed hungry"--luckily, no crying involved after dinner and she slept fine, but seemed more eager for breakfast the next day!)

A few weeks ago, Breeley's crying started before we even sat down for dinner. Nothing seemed to be able to calm her down and she was literally screaming as we started eating. Brian suddenly said (very sternly), "Breeley, go into the living room to calm down. You can come back when you stop crying." I gasped a little because I didn't think this would work at all. I didn't think she'd understand him. But she took a big gulp and immediately got down from her chair and sulked into the living room, still crying but surprisingly not screaming. The crying died down and she was back within one minute, quiet! We asked her if she was ready to eat and be calm, and she climbed back on the chair and we had a relatively peaceful meal!

Twice since then we've had to ask, "Do you need to go into the living room to calm down?" and it seems to do the trick. She still wants to sit on our laps or graze, but at least there is no screaming and she actually eats. I will be very glad when this phase is over!