It's a BOY!

We still can't believe it.

I went into the hospital on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m., and

Thomas Christopher was born at 5:24 on Wednesday morning, January 27th.

I am stunned at how big he was. I was positive he was smaller than the other boys.

I think maybe I was just smaller this time.

Ask me how it feels not to be pregnant anymore.

Go ahead - ask me.

That's how.

(Whoa, look at those eyes - I definitely didn't get much sleep that night.)

Patrick is one proud papa - and a little in shock.

He was pretty convinced it was a girl too.

But no - here's our little puffy-faced boy a few hours after he was born.

Jack and PJ had been staying at my parents' house for a few days, since I had had more than a few false alarms that had me thinking I was in labor.

When the doctor gave us the okay to head in to be induced, I called Jack there and told him that the baby was going to be coming out that night. I promised I'd call him the next morning and let him know whether it was a boy baby or a girl baby.

At 7 a.m. that morning - just a short while after the baby was born - I did just that.

Here's how that call transpired:

Me: Jack, it's Mommy. The baby came out today!
Jack: Already?
(!?!?!?!?!?)
Me: Yes! Daddy is holding him. And guess what?
Jack: What?
Me: It's a little boy baby!
Jack: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
(Screaming, sobbing, dropping the phone and continuing while walking away)
I want it to be a little girl baby!

So...that went well.

I hoped that when he met little Thomas, things might be different.

I was right.

First, he saw that it was indeed a tiny little baby.

I think he equated a boy with another little brother the same size as PJ.
And Jack's a baby lover!

Then, this happened.

(This picture makes me cry a little.)

Then, he was thrilled to hold his baby brother.

PJ, also a baby lover, just went straight for the cuddle.

Then he was excited to see his little eyes and nose.

Some quiet time with my little guy this morning.

I love this one - the boys brought in some "Boys Rule" stickers for everyone and we put Thomas' on his bassinette
(though I have to admit the perfectionist in me wonders if they couldn't have asked someone with a little bit nicer handwriting to fill out the card).

Getting ready to head for home.

We are all doing well. The boys will spend one last night at my parents' house and give us a chance to settle in with Thomas. Then Patrick will go pick them up in the morning.

I can't wait to have all of them home together.
We are so blessed!

Due date

Well, here it is - yet another due date on which I am still pregnant.

The boys were both late, but this is different. With them, I didn't have nearly as many false alarms - hours and hours of regular contractions that ended up fizzling out, usually as soon as I call a neighbor or my parents to come and stay with the boys. This is infinitely more frustrating, mostly because so many more people are being affected.

From all the drama this little one has caused to date, I'm definitely thinking pink.

I appreciate all the votes for an early arrival.

I appreciate the vote for the due date arrival.
(Did I vote for that one myself? I may have, hoping beyond hope that this child
would inherit my own affinity for promptness.)

The day is still young...but this little one seems to be pretty darn comfortable in there.

And that's okay.

I won't be pregnant forever.

(Right??)

Misters Potato Head

Just some silly pictures of one of the new favorite things to do - put on Mr. Potato Head's glasses.

Super boys!

I have two days until my due date, and, for obvious reasons, we've been looking for ways to have fun around the house.

This morning, Jack asked me to tie a blanket around his shoulders so that he could be a superhero. He's never asked this before, and we don't watch too many shows that have superheroes in them, so I'm thinking it must have come from seeing Super Grover on Sesame Street.

Anyway, we tried a few times with a blanket, but it kept falling off, so I got a couple of pillowcases and some rubber bands and made them each a superhero cape.

I have never had more fun watching the two of them play together!

This superboy needs a little rest from all the running around and helping.

Guessing game

With nine days to go until my due date, I figured it was about time for another guessing game.

You know, the kind where you take a stab at when the baby might make an appearance, and how much s/he might weigh and I promise to write your name in a fancy font if you win!

How can you resist seeing your name posted online in a fancy font like I did for Aunt Devon when PJ was born?

You can't, right? I know!

So I posted a little poll over there on the right for the due date. Both Jack and PJ were latecomers (10 and 7 days, respectively - both were running on T-Time right from the start) and so I think I'll just be happy if this baby shows up in the month of January at all, but I have had lots more Braxton Hicks contractions than I did with PJ, so maybe this little one is planning to take after his Mommy and come on time or even a little early.

As for the weight, Jack was 8 lb. 5 oz, and PJ was 8 lb. 8 oz, and I have to say, I think I'm actually a little smaller this time around. I definitely don't weigh as much as I did when I was at the end of my pregnancies with them, and I didn't gain very much - only about 12 pounds according to this morning's OB visit. Which, I must say, is another thing that has me thinking pink.

So take your best (anonymous) guess at when the baby will come and leave a comment with your guess of the weight. I'll post the weight winner once s/he makes an entrance!

In a fancy font and everything!

The due date is January 24th, by the way.

Hard work

First vacuuming. Now this.

Me: Jack, what are you doing, fixing the gate?
Jack: Uh, yeah. My job.

(Like DUH, Mom!)

He loves using his tools to help. Tightening a loose screw here.

Hammering the same screw with the utmost precision there.

(We'll go over the difference between screws and nails some day.)

"PJ," he says, "fixing the gate is hard wook (rhymes with book) - come help me!"

PJ's only too happy to oblige.

Starting early

Don't call CPS just yet.

We took down the Christmas decorations this past weekend and Jack begged to use the vacuum.

Practically threw a fit when we hesitated.

Pinky swear.

He didn't do too bad, either. Except that the actual vacuum part of the vacuum (you know, the part in the front with the rollers and suction) only touched the carpet about half the time.

I was thinking of starting a little chore chart for them this year. Perhaps...

Nah.

But hey, a Mommy can dream.

Budding photographers

Whenever the camera comes out, the boys love to have a try taking pictures too. I show them which button to push and how to find what they're looking for on the screen of the digital camera, and then I just sort of let them have at it and don't touch it at all.

The other day, they snapped a few shots while we were playing in the hallway, and I was honestly a little surprised at how well they did for a three-year-old and a 21-month-old.

First, Jack took a photo of PJ.

Then one of PJ and Mommy together.

The concept of holding the button down for a few seconds to focus is not an easy one, but we're still working on it.

Then PJ took a few pictures of Jack.

I thought this one was especially impressive.



Finally, Jack wanted to snap a picture of his Handy Manny, so he posed him against the wall and got down in front of him for a good angle.


I'm looking forward to seeing how they continue to express their independence and creativity as they get older!

In other news, I'm 12 days away from my due date! I can't wait to meet this new baby, but I'm enjoying these last few days of just my boys. Jack is so excited to meet the baby, has conversations with him/her daily, and is really hoping for a little sister. He's got lots of questions about how the baby comes out and how I'm going to feed it. A little basic anatomy has answered most of his questions, as has the Usborne New Baby Sticker Book.

PJ just likes to say "Hi, baby! I'm your big brother, PJ!" to my belly every chance he gets. I'm 99% sure he has no idea that an actual baby is going to be coming out any day and rocking his toddler world. But he and Jack play together well (when they're not fighting over toys) and have transitioned well into sharing a bedroom, so it will be nice for them to have each other once the new babe arrives.

I can't believe that soon we'll be cuddling, dressing, smelling, kissing, and staring at a new little family member.

And I'm insanely anxious to know if it's a girl or a boy!

We're just praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby.

(Oh, and if s/he slept through the night in the first week, I wouldn't complain either.)

37 weeks

At a little over 37 weeks, we're getting really excited to learn whether we're having another baby boy or a little girl!

Judging from the poll, I can see that most of you are thinking (or hoping) girl.


I'm not so sure. I love my boys. They're easy. I "get" them.

Plus, I already have everything I'd need.

Girls mean drama. I don't think I can handle having another person with PMS in the house.

But still, it might be fun to have a little girl...

And it would certainly be fun to be a little girl with these guys for big brothers.

We'll find out soon enough!

Visiting Santa

I'd hoped to get a good picture of the boys with Santa for our Christmas card this year.

Then I remembered how fun they are to try to get to look at the camera and/or smile.

Don't we have the cutest Santa ever? I was only allowed to take two photos with my own camera before I'd have to purchase the Bleed-'Em-Dry photo package, so I decided a picture with Santa was not going to be on our Christmas card this year.

PJ's hair is looking rather "I want to be a dentist" that day, so I thought maybe a photo with Rudolph was more doable.


Um....maybe not.

This one could have been okay if I weren't a perfectionist. So close, but come on, Jack! Plus, there were easily ten up-and-downs for each of them between the first Rudolph picture and the second. I was kneeling on the ground saying loudly, "Boys! Look at Mommy!" a hundred times , my maternity jeans were slowly falling down (I think I had a whole underwear-hanging-out-the-top thing going on that is so much less cool on pregnant 30-somethings than high school boys), and this whole setup was right in the middle of the busiest part of the mall.

Okay, so Mommy can't be on the floor anymore. Let's just stand over by the Christmas trees and the two of them can just smile?

Maybe?

The dialogue went a little something like:

"How about if we just stand by the Christmas trees and you give PJ a hug, Jack? Over here. No, don't touch the lights. Don't pull on the beads. Boys turn this way. NO, the ornaments are NOT balls! Don't hit them! Don't hit HIM!...Look here! Look at Mommy. Wait - stand still! Don't knock PJ down! Don't squeeze his neck like that! Look! Look over here! PeeeJaaaaaay! Jack! Look! Okay now say, 'candy cane!' Wait, say it and LOOK! Look at Mommy! Oh sh*t. Forget it."


And there was no photo for the Christmas card that day.

Christmas morning 2009

I'm pretty sure this was my most exciting Christmas ever. Jack was old enough to anticipate what was going to happen, and we counted down the days until Santa would come with our paper chain advent calendar.

Christmas morning, I was awake before the boys, making monkey bread and lighting the tree. When I first heard them stirring at around 6 a.m., I went into Jack's room and he said excitedly, "Mommy, I heard Santa!"

I remember getting a few notes from Santa when I was little, so I thought I'd leave a little note and some gumdrops (thanks to Patrick's mom) for the boys from the man in red.

Jack had asked Santa for "Mowwy and some tracks that change wines."

(I just realized I never posted pictures of their visit with Santa...that will be coming next.)

Fortunately, when Santa looked at me curiously, I just nodded and winked knowingly. I knew exactly what that meant, and quietly thanked God that he wasn't asking for something totally new since I'd already finished my Christmas shopping.

So he got lots of tracks that change wines...er, lines. And his beloved yellow engine, Molly...who has gone virtually untouched since Christmas morn, but whatever.

PJ hadn't really asked for anything because, well, he had no idea what was going on, but he got a tricycle that he loves and had to be coaxed off of in order to open the rest of his gifts.

I thought it might be nice to get a picture of each of the boys in his Christmas jammies.

Then I remembered that Jack smiles like this whenever the camera comes out. You'd think the jammies were made of burlap and barbed wire.

PJ spent much of the morning with his tongue between his teeth, exclaiming "Thhhhmmmewwy Christmas!"

Don't ask me why.

He seemed to think it was the funniest thing ever.

We were supposed to have Aunt Devon, Nana and Pop-Pop come for Christmas dinner, but they weren't feeling great and it was freezing rain, so we stayed in our pajamas all day and the boys got to play with their toys. It was the most relaxing holiday ever.

Later, the boys sat on the couch together looking at some of their new (ahem, Usborne) books. Jack is fascinated with telling the time right now, so this one was just perfect for him. It has a little clock with moving hands and he was showing PJ how they go around.

I love moments like these.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a very happy New Year!