Ka-chow, Ka-chow!

Jayden seems to be growing up overnight. First the potty and now a "big boy bed"! While we were on vacation in Florida (I'll post about that trip later) he climbed out of his pack and play one morning and was so proud that he "got out by myself!!". He didn't climb out again until yesterday at nap time. I heard him when he woke up and went in to get him a few minutes later and he was already standing on the floor. Then he wanted me to put him in his crib so that he could climb back out by himself over and over. I had already been thinking about switching him to a toddler bed so we decided to go ahead and do it last night. Jason got home and converted the crib to a toddler bed and then we went to Target to pick out some bedding. Jayden chose Lightning McQueen cars bedding. He was so excited after he picked it out that he was showing all the Target employees what he had and telling them about his new bed. On the way to the checkout counter he kept saying, "I tired, I sleepy, I need to go to bed". I was worried that he might not stay in his bed after I put him in it but he only got up one time to ask for some water! It was sweet to have him come into my room and wake me up this morning. He said, "Mama, I got up by myself!!". When I put him down for his nap he got up twice before he went to sleep. Once to use the potty and once to ask for some medicine (he has a molar coming in). Tonight when I put him to bed he didn't get up at all!
The potty training is going really well! The only times that he hasn't made it to the potty today were when he was sleeping and when we were at K-mart. The K-mart thing was probably my fault. I didn't remind him to go because I didn't want to have to deal with the public bathroom when I was by myself with two kids. But we did go out to dinner tonight and he told me that he needed to use the potty and made it without even wetting his pull-up! I have been very proud of him. We bought his first pair of big boy underwear this morning and he has worn them around the house. They are Bob the Builder underwear. I got the smallest size they had (2T) and they are about to fall off of him. My skinny boy!

Big boys now...

I'm in the process of posting about our trips to the lake and the beach but in the meantime I wanted to write about my boys accomplishments. First of all, Jayden has officially started using the potty! He went naked from the waist down most of the day yesterday and used the potty what seemed like about 500 times. He even went twice all by himself when I was feeding Brody! He still doesn't make it every time but he is doing really well!

Yesterday was also a big day for Brody. We moved the bassinet out of our bedroom and he started sleeping in the crib in his room last night. I am enjoying having our room back but I am also waking up more often than I was when he was sleeping right beside me because I feel like I need to go check on him. He is sleeping at least four hours at a time now, sometimes longer. We seem to be working towards a schedule and that makes me very happy!

On a different note, I got a call from Jayden's preschool teacher today. He will be going two days a week for three hours a day starting in September. I have been dreading it because I know it is going to be a difficult transition for him. I felt a little better after talking to her because she sounds really nice and she seems like she might be one of the "fun" teachers. I'm hoping it will be a good experience for him and something that he will eventually look forward to, but I'm expecting those first couple of weeks to be hard for both of us!

And then there were four...

It is so hard to believe that we have been a family of four for three months now! Brody Clay Jones was born May 9 at 4:10 in the morning. I started having small contractions on Thursday morning and got progressively more uncomfortable as the day and night wore on. I decided to call my parents early Friday morning so that we could go on to the hospital. We got to triage about 6:00 in the morning. They checked me and I hadn't made any progress since my doctor's appointment on Wednesday (I was still at a two). So they had me walk around for an hour and then checked again. There was no change so they gave me a shot of pain medication and told me to go home and go to sleep. The doctor told me that I should be able to get a few solid hours of sleep and that if I woke up and the contractions were gone that it was just false labor. The medication took the edge off the pain but that's about it. I got about an hour of fitful sleep and then the pain started getting worse. I labored all afternoon and the pain was getting worse but my contractions were still not in a regular pattern. Finally, around 10:00 that night I couldn't take it anymore. By the time I got to the hospital the contractions were unbearable. I wanted to get in the hospital and get hooked up to my epidural as quickly as possible so I told Jason just to drop me off at the door so that I could go on in and he could go park the car. Sure enough I got a contraction before I even made it to the door of the hospital and I had to go through it all by myself with people walking all around me. Apparently, a woman crying out in pain and hanging on to a cement pillar for dear life outside the doors to the maternity ward is not as common as one would think. People were coming up to me like I should be going to the Psych ward instead! I group of guys walked by first and stopped and asked if I was okay. Very nice of them but unfortunately I was in too much pain to answer and really wanted them to just go away. About that time an older lady starts hollering at me from across the parking lot: "Honey, are you alright??". I finally got inside and walked into triage and the nurse told me to have a seat in the waiting room and that they would come and get me when a triage room opened up. I wanted to jump across the desk and shake her. Luckily, a contraction started about the time she started talking and I just laid across her desk and moaned and groaned until it was over. She decided that I didn't need to go through triage and went ahead and put me in a labor & delivery room. Brody was born a little under 5 hours after I got to the hospital. The doctor almost didn't make it into the room! I had been telling the nurse for a while that I was feeling a lot of pressure and that I felt like the baby was about to come out. She kept telling me to wait because the doctor was with another patient. When the doctor finally came in and they put my legs up in the stirrups they saw that the baby was already crowing. They helped me slide my bottom to the end of the table and his head came out! I barely pushed one time and he was out! Brody's birth was much more painful that Jayden's but it was 10 times easier.

Brody is the best baby! He is very laid back and easygoing. Jayden has also been a great big brother. He loves his baby brother and is always checking on him and giving him kisses. Life has been hectic with two kids but I am loving every minute of it!

Nine Days and Counting

Jason, Jayden and I went to the doctor this afternoon to "check Brody". I intentionally made the appointment with the doctor that I knew was the least conservative so that maybe he would do something to get things moving. He did not dissapoint me! He checked me and said that I was two centimeters dilated. He stripped my membranes while he was down there and then asked if I wanted him to induce me!! I had expected him to strip my membranes, which is why I asked Jason to go with us, but was not prepared for him to offer an induction. After a long discussion we decided that if I don't go into labor on my own before my due date, May 15th, he will induce me. He wants to see me on Monday and said that if I have changed my mind and want to do it earlier he will induce me on Wednesday, May 13th. I am hoping and praying that I will go into labor on my own sometime in the next few days but it is nice to know that I won't have to go past my due date if I don't want to!

Mommy's Big Helper

Although we have had lots of behavior issues lately, Jayden seems to have found joy in being a helper. This week, more than ever, he has wanted to help me do everything. He wants to sit on the kitchen counter and "help me" when I'm fixing something to eat. He helps with the laundry and loves to throw trash away. We went to the grocery store on Wednesday and he walked the entire store with me instead of sitting in the cart. Usually, if I let him out of the cart in a store he bolts but this time he stayed right beside me and smiled and waved to everyone we passed. You could tell he was so proud to be walking around like a big kid! I would point to what we needed and he would get it off the shelf for me and put it in our cart (I had to help with a few things but he did most of it by himself). He has been helping me check out for the last several weeks so when we got up to the checkout lane he asked to be put into the back of the cart, as usual, and put all of the groceries on the conveyor belt for me. He even helps me push the buttons on the debit card machine! Yesterday he started helping me in a new way. I can't tell you the last time I was able to go to the bathroom alone so that's nothing new. However, yesterday Jayden started having to help me by tearing off the toilet paper himself and handing it to me. It has apparently become a very important role for him. Tonight, we went to my parents house and I thought that I was going to be able to make a potty run alone but at the last moment he ran in the bathroom saying "Mommy, wipe!" and yanked off the toilet paper to give to me.

On a separate note, I went to the doctor on Wednesday for my weekly checkup and I am still one centimeter dilated but my cervix has thinned out to about fifty percent so I am still making progress!

Here Come the Clowns

Waiting for liftoff

Loving the helicopter

Jayden and Mckenzie patiently waiting for their turn

Driving the jeep with Mckenzie

Feeding the goats at the petting zoo

Tuesday night we decided to take Jayden to the Circus. Papaw and Heather were taking Mckenzie and Tristan and asked if Jayden wanted to come, too. We decided to just stick to the rides instead of actually sitting through the circus (since sitting still for longer than a minute is apparently impossible for Jayden). Poor Tristan was too little to ride any of the rides but seemed to have a great time anyway. Jayden rode the cars and the four-wheelers and the helicopters (several times each). Mckenzie rode everything with him except for the helicopters. I was very hesitant to let him go on the helicopters because they actually went pretty high up in the air and I was afraid he would get scared and start trying to get out. I was wrong...it was his favorite ride of the night! He is still talking about the helicopters. He also got to go in the petting zoo which had goats, kangaroos, a porcupine and the "world's largest rodent" (which Jayden thought was a bunny rabbit and wasn't really that large yet). Squeaky the Clown rode by the petting zoo when we were on our way out and stopped to say hello. Mckenzie is not a fan of anything in costume so Jason had to rescue her and take her far away from him. But Jayden said "Hey clown!" and had no problem talking to him. Squeaky asked him if he wanted a banana and tried to hand him an empty banana peel. My child loves fruit of any kind so he really wanted that banana even though there was nothing left of it. So on top of the helicopters we are still discussing the clown's banana. We were all pretty tired by the end of the night but had a really great time together! Thanks Papaw and Heather!!

Stork Stories

We went for my almost-37 week checkup this morning and got some very exciting news! I am one centimeter dilated! I know to most people this is not a lot and I also know that I could go another three weeks this way. However, I had been in labor for 14 hours with Jayden when we finally went to the hospital only to find out from the nurse that I was not even a full centimeter dilated! So to already be at a one when I am three weeks away is good news for me! I have been thinking a lot about Jayden's birth today (since it is his birthday!) so I thought I would record the story here.

Jayden was due on Thursday, April 19th but refused to make an appearance that day. Saturday morning I woke up at 7:30 with my first contraction. I spent all day Saturday timing my increasingly painful contractions and wondering if I was actually in labor. The doctor had told me not to go to the hospital until my contractions were coming about three minutes apart for an hour. About 6:30 that evening I called my cousin (who is a nurse and childbirth educator) and told her that I had been having contractions all day but that they weren't coming in a regular pattern. She said that it might or might not be real labor and that I should try drinking a very large amount of water (24 oz or more) within five minutes or so and if the contractions stopped then I would know that I wasn't really in labor. Jason and I decided to go get something to eat at the Japanese Steakhouse and that I would try the water trick when we got back home. I ate my meal that night between contractions. When we got home I laid down on the couch with my giant bottle of water and tried to watch a movie (The Gridiron Gang) with Jason. After I drank the water the contractions started coming closer together, anywhere from five to ten minutes apart. Finally, around 11:00 I told Jason that we were going to have to go to the hospital so that I could get some pain medication and get some sleep. I really didn't think they were going to keep me since my contractions still weren't coming in a regular pattern. By the time that we got to the hospital my contractions were coming at an even 5 minutes apart. The nurse checked me and told me that I was only "a fingertip" dilated but that we were going to stay and have a baby anyway! I was shocked and scared but Jason immediately got this huge goofy grin on his face. I asked for an epidural when I was only one centimeter dilated! I wanted to get some sleep! Jayden wasn't born until 5:13 Sunday evening. He was facing the ceiling instead of the floor so they had to use forceps to help get him out. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 20.5 inches long. I had never been so in love!

I am excited and scared all at the same time about the upcoming birth of baby Brody. I am hoping it will go much more quickly than Jayden's did but most of all I am just praying for a healthy baby and healthy Mommy once it is all over!