They grow up so fast!

Some milestones for both kiddos tonight!

Spring had her two week check up today and it turns out that she has gained a pound already! Usually, doctors like to see babies back to their birth weight at two weeks and gaining an ounce a day. Well, Spring definitely surpassed her birth weight and has gained an average of two ounces a day! I'm kind of amazed that my body is making that much food for her and it makes me wonder if I would have made this much milk for Reed had our nursing not been hindered by his breathing trouble and jaundice...

And Reed has reached two milestones. We moved his crib out of his room and he now sleeps in his toddler bed which we are thrilled with! I was a little worried about how well the transition would go since he LOVED his crib, but I think the fact that his new bed is a car, helps a lot! And, for the first time, Reed peed on his potty chair yesterday, not just once, but twice! So begins the potty learning... I think we're a long way from being out of diapers, but this is definitely progress!

My side of the story

I thought some of you might be wondering how it happened that I didn't realize that I was so close to delivering a baby, so I thought I'd share my side of the birthing story!

For several nights previous to Spring's arrival, I had been going into early labor in the evening, waking up with contractions around 2 or 3 in the morning, only to have my contractions taper off and stop by mid-morning. So Wednesday evening, when I started having contractions again, I didn't think much of it. When I hadn't slept at all be 1 in the morning, I consulted my doula and midwives, took a Nytol and tried to get some sleep (still thinking I wasn't going to stay in labor).

My mom had come to stay the night and I was really thankful for that at 2 am when my contractions got strong enough that I couldn't cope with them on my own. She and I had gone through childbirth classes together so that she could be my labor coach. I got in the guest bed with her, and was shaking hard, which can be a sign of transition (the last part of labor before pushing). But transition is often a very difficult stage for women and this didn't feel all that difficult. Thankfully my mom decided to call our doula.

I labored without too much pain for an hour or so but I was really tired (bear in mind, I hadn't slept well for the last three nights and I had taken nytol not long before) so my doula suggested that I try laying down through my contractions so that I could doze in between. This worked well for me and I did it for an hour or so. Not super comfortable, but I was glad not to be getting up and down. Then, out of the blue, I felt the urge to push! I thought I would get some sign from my body that I was getting close to pushing, but nope! It took fewer than 10 pushes for Spring to be born, and for most of those, my doula was coaching me not to push since we still thought we might make it to the birth center.

I really think that all the work I did preparing for this birth helped me stay calm and relaxed through labor, which helped labor progress so quickly and easily. The only morsel of regret I have is that I was looking forward to delivering at the Birthing Inn and having a water birth, but I wouldn't trade the experience I had for anything!!

Brilliant Babyproofing

In order to make room for Spring, we've moved our computer into the front room, where it is not longer behind a door, so Reed had been finding it more often. Cammy, the other night in her brilliance, suggested we make it lock out after a few minutes, so Reed can tap away all he wants and we don't need to worry about him sending out incoherent e-mails to everyone.

Grandma Lisa implimented the idea, with another stoke of brilliance. She set the screen saver to "Bubbles", and Reed absolutely loved it! Pretty soon, Reed figured out that if he touched the keyboard, or jiggled the mouse, the bubbles would go away.

Brilliant!

Spring Mills Austin

We've finally decided on a name. With the way she came into our lifes, it's only appropriate that we name her Spring. She's been quite happy and content these past few days as we've gotten to know her.


Our Port Orchard photographer friend Kathryn, came by to take some great pictures of Spring yesterday, as well as one of the four of us. (please click the link above so she can get better promoted on Google).

Grandma Lisa has been staying with us the past few days being a huge help. It's great having someone to help with the chores, cooking and cleaning, and entertaining Reed, and a visit from Grandma Lisa is always fun!

Reed has been wonderful lately. As I'm typing this, he's running up and down the halls yelling "ahhhh ahhhh ahhh". Poor Grandma Lisa is trying to take a nap...

The story of the boat

A post with nothing to do about babys.

I'm a boat nut. I love boats. Years ago, I bought a coronado 15' sailboat, Sunshine Daydream, that we've had a lot of fun with. I started racing it in the evening races here in Port Orchard a few years ago, and one of my first races, I talked a friend of mine, Cody, into coming along who'd never sailed before. The first thing he said when we were lining up for the start, and the 30' and 35' foot boats dwarfed us, was "We need a bigger boat". Cody found a San Juan 7.7 (26' long) on craigslist that had been sitting neglected in Liberty bay, and bought it. Over the past two years, he's done quite a bit of work to it, and we've been racing in the West Sound Sailing Series as well as many other club races. She's been a fun boat.

During the last race, last season (end of june), we were nearing the start, and got hit by another boat. We were on the right of way tack, but should have seen the other guy coming. The guy who we hit is a friend of ours, so everything was cool. Both boats were insured, so no big deal. The damage to Cody's boat was moderate, but nothing that couldn't be fixed... when I'd bought Sunshine Daydream, she was in sad shape, so over the years, I've gotten pretty good at doing fiberglass repairs. Functional repairs... not nessecarily pretty ones. So long story short, he got paid for his boat by the insurance company since professional fiberglass is really expensive, and we put an ugly, but functional patch on it. Over the summer, he's decided one again, he needs a bigger boat, this time something he can actually stand up inside of, and was ready to get rid of the San Juan. Since it wasn't in perfect shape, he said, I can have it if I want it.

Owning a boat on this side of the state is expensive. Moorage isn't cheap, and with salt water, the boat is in a constant state of decay, so maintenance takes a lot of time. It's always been a dream of mine and my uncle Chads to have a 26' boat on lake chelan, where it's fresh water, and much drier during the winter. We realized we couldn't pass up the opportunity. The logistics were pretty challenging seeing as how winter is closing in for a trip over the pass, we had to do it cheap, had no trailer, or a place to park the boat on the lake in the winter when the lake level drops. And on top of it all, Cammy was due with baby any day.

But as with everything in life, sometimes you've just got to "seize the day" and go for it.

On Monday Chad found a trailer in Chelan he could borrow for a few days, via a community radio program. He's planned to take the whole week off anyway, so the timing was good. Tuesday, I took the day off, motored the boat from Brownsville to Port Orchard, where it was hauled out, and placed on the trailer. In a few hours, we had the mast stepped, and she was ready for a trip across the pass. A tire failure on Tiger Mountain and repair in North Bend later, and the boat safely arrived in Chelan, where Chad got her re-rigged and in the water. On saturday, he even found a place to moor her over the winter via his insurance agent, who just happens to also be the president of a private marina. Since most people pull their boats out in the winter, they were happy to work out a deal with us!

Yeah, it's been a great week. A beautiful baby girl and a sailboat on Lake Chelan... what more could a Daddy possibly ask for!

Baby Bun

Here's a little video of baby that I took the other night...

Enjoy.

Big Brother

Reed has once again amazed us. Yesterday, baby started to cry while I was holding her, and Reed came up and said 'Mama!', then we went into the other room to find Cammy, where he said "Mama... baabeee...." and signed for "nursing"... Cammy asked, does baby need to nurse, and Reed said "Ya!". Then he picked up the boppy and handed to Cammy, and he looked and me and pointed at Cammy and said "baaabee", so I would give the baby to Cammy so she could nurse.

He's such an amazing little guy.

Everythings going great

Baby is doing well. Our pediatrician was concerned because she lost quite a bit of weight in the first 24 hours, but she's gaining weight now, and is nursing well.... it's just modern medicine making us paraniod again... you think we'd know better by now...

Here are some pics for today... we've got the name list narrowed, and will announce it sometime in the near future.

Happy Family

We just got back from a quick visit at our pediatrician, and everything looks great. Cammy is up and moving around, Reed is playing and keeps talking about the baaa-beee.

No name yet, sorry, we've got a few thoughts, but haven't settled on anything yet. For now, she's just baby girl. We'll let ya'll know, as soon as we know!

I can't thank you all enough for your good thoughts, positive energies, and prayers.

Whew!

Midwives have left, everything is cleaned up, and Cammy is now resting in her own bed with baby.

Mary Lou woke me up at about 2:00 saying contractions are going strong, and our doula Bethany and Cammy's dad Darrell were on their her way over. Thinking it was going to be a really long day today, and Mary Lou had it covered , I tried to get a few more few hours of sleep. She woke me up again at 5:00am and said it's time to go. I threw on some clothes, grabbed the birth bag and carseat, and started up the car to get it warmed up.

I came back in to send out the e-mail to everyone letting them know we were on the way, again, thinking we had a long day ahead of us. I hit send, and looked at Cammy and say baby's head crowning. Mary Lou called the paramedics, and Bethany said "Are you ready to catch her?" I said "Yup, let's do this"... seconds later, baby was in my hands. The paramedics showed up a few minutes later, and everythings been great since.

Thank you all for your good energy, your thoughts, and your prayers for helping us all to have the strength to get through this easily.

"It is what it is, what you thought it'd be, it won't be"...

stats

Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz.
Length: 21 inches

The paramedics left about 20 minutes about, and now the midwives are here attending to Cammy and baby. Everything is looking great. Reed just woke up for the day... we can't believe he slept through the whole thing.

I never in a million years thought I would deliver our daughter.

pics

More Pics

Everything is good. Midwife is on the way, we're nearly done with delivery. Baby is doing great nursing.

pics

She's here

right in our guest bed... baby is breathing and crying, paramedics are here.

It's time, gotta run

Cammy's been laboring at home for the last few hours, and we're off to Tacoma... I'll update more soon.

So beautiful I could cry!

I'm definitely one of those people who thinks that pregnancy is beautiful! I had a photography session on Sunday to capture these last few days of my pregnancy. We had the pictures done by the same woman who did our family portraits back it July, Kathryn. She sent us these two pictures as a sneak peak, and I couldn't be happier with the results!

I've been having pretty strong contractions for the last two nights and still having some contractions today. I don't think it will be too much longer till baby comes!

Test

This is a test of the mobile baby alert system.

Had this been a real alert, Cammy would be in labor.

This is only a test.

Reed the grease monkey

Our alternator went out on the escort today, so Reed got to help change it. He's quite handy with a screwdriver. He also wanted to share all the animal noises that he's learned in the last few weeks. Enjoy

-Gerry

Helping Daddy change the alternator

Are you sure you don't want me to try to fix this? I'm pretty good with a hammer y'know!

Big

Big, that's how I'm feeling these days! I'm definitely bigger this time around than I was with Reed (for proof you can go back and visit this post). Other than big, I'm still feeling pretty good! I've been having lots of practice contractions and have been very interested in cleaning my house and preparing meals all of which I take as a sign that it won't be too much longer till Bun makes her debut, but on the other hand, I won't be surprised if we still have a few more weeks to go. We're going to do our best to keep you all updated on my progress once I go into labor. It's kind of cool for me when Gerry reads me all your words of support, so if you'd like to be notified via email when my labor begins, drop us an email, or leave your email in the comments section.

My cousin Ayla came out and visited from New York (state) last week. Reed absolutely LOVED her! He's sometimes slow to warm up to people, but was just enamored with her. So much so, that when we told Reed that Ayla was going home and he wasn't going to see her for a long time, he gave her a hug, which he then refused to end. Literally for minutes he stayed with his head on her shoulder, arms wrapped around her. I tried and tried to think of some way to get him to break off the hug on his own, but I finally just had to take him from her. Kind of sad and sweet at the same time!

And some other cute Reed moments. Reed and I went to dinner with a friend recently and he bumped his head a bit, so I gave him a kiss on his head. He then proceeded to gently bump his head and ask for kisses over and over again! I kept telling him he didn't need to bump himself in order to get kisses, but he seemed to like the game!

And earlier this week, while I was at my last childbirth class, Reed and Gerry were playing in our front room. Suddenly Reed got very excited and shouting, "moon, moon, MOON," ran into our living room and brought his step stool out into the front room. He put his stool by the window and stepped up on it so he could look at the moon! Too cute! He did this again tonight so I got to witness his excitement over seeing the moon. :-)

Recent photos

Gerry here;
I was looking through recent photos and found some that I thought I'd share. And since Cammy started with the 'song title puns' in her last post, I figure I'll give it a go...

First, a couple from a some hikes this summer.




Lake of the Angles, Olympic NP - "The bottle was dusty, but the liquor was clean"


Bugs were awful, climb was horrendous... it was a great hike!

Bourroughs Mountain, Mt. Rainier NP -
"I can see for miles and miles..."










And some of Reed.