He's here!!

After MUCH anticipation, waiting, inpatience, false labor, and watching 4 friends who were due the same week as me have babies....mine finally came :)  And he's PERFECT!!!  I could not be more in love with this little boy!  I really didn't know how I was going to love him as much as my girls--cause it turns out i like them a lot.  But he has completely won me over and I will never be the same!

Technically he was a week late, but UNtechnically, he was 2 weeks--as in, i thought for sure he'd come at least a few days early because Eliza did.  He had different plans.  And although my impatience is what's ruled my life for the past 15 days, now that he's here I barely even remember it :) 

(40 weeks pregnant)

(41 weeks pregnant!!!)

My water broke yseterday morning, around 5:30 am.  I had been saying all along how awesome it would be to have my water break before labor even begins--that way i'd be SURE to get to the hospital in time.  And lo and behold--it did!  My dear neighbor came over to be with the girls until our sitter got there, and we arrived at the hospital at 6:30am.  Labor didn't really begin until after 10am, and even so it was VERY early labor--contractions 10 mins apart, and fairly mild.  We walked the halls, bounced on the exercise ball, and tried to get things going.

By about 1pm, the Dr. convinced me to start pitocin.  I'd been hoping to avoid that stuff, since i didn't have a great history with it with Grace, but they started me on the lowest possible dosage, and within 2 minutes my contractions went from every 10 minutes to every 2-4 minutes. 

By 3pm, I was dialated to a 4.  By 4pm, I was ready for my epidural.  And by 6pm I was ready to push!!  My epidural only really took on one side, which wasn't too bad until about the last 5-6 contractions--holy moly those were INTENSE!  but soon after I started pushing, and everything was BLISS and HEAVEN and i could feel just enough to know that my son has the BIGGEST head--but it didn't hurt :)

When he came out he was blue as blue can be, and i was freaking out.  All the nurses kept saying how great he looked, but all i could see was a little blueberry and i wanted a strawberry!  Sure enough, after a minute or two he pinked up a bit, and i got to hold my son.  And I've fallen....

 madly...

 in...

LOVE!!!!

He was born at 6:33 p.m., and much like i'd anticipated--he is our biggest baby--8lbs 5oz.  20.5 inches long, and a 14.25 inch head (13-13.5 inches is average)

 

Reid left soon after he was born to go get the girls.  They could not have been any cuter with their baby brother.  Grace was protective, Abby was excited, and Eliza was curious about everything.   

They were here until about 9:30, and then Reid took them home, where our dear friend spent the night with them, so Reid could come back and be here with me and get his own turn with our little boy!

So far he's a really great baby.  Nursing is going well.  He sleeps all the time.  He likes to suck on his fingers and hands and binki. 

And he still doesn't have a name.  Logan and Asher are officially off the list, though i do still like both of them.  It's narrowed down to:

James Reid Allred (named after Reid's great-grandpa, James Allred)

James Ashworth Allred

Harrison Reid Allred (Reid's grandpa was a Harry, but I can't quite do Harry :)

I really like Harrison, Reid really likes James.  But in the midst of thinking about this last night, i was surfing through some shows and landed on PBS airing a James Taylor concert.  And of course he was singing "Rock-a-bye Sweet Baby James."  So that song has been in my head all night, and it's made me like James a whole lot more :)  Maybe it was a sign...

Whatever your name is, we LOVE you little boy!!  Thank you for finally deciding to come face the estrogen-loaded Allred home that is your new world :)  We needed a little boy!!!

Grace's 6th Birthday

Any guess as to what "theme" Grace wanted for her Birthday?

(Reid gets all the credit for this awesome tower/hair display, btw)

My girls (and maybe their parents) are in LOVE with the new Disney movie--"Tangled".  So, it was no shocker when Grace wanted a Tangled b-day party.  She invited 22 girls.  Which was fine, since usually about half can't come.  But it turns out that if parents have the chance to dump their 5-6 year old off on a Friday night for 2.5 hours--they make it happen.  There were twenty girls there!!!

I didn't stress it too much, 'cause we had a plan:

5:30-5:45 - Girls arrive
5:45-7:15 - Girls ALL in the basement, eating popcorn, watching Tangled in its entirety
7:15 - Girls come upstairs for "Tangled" gift exchanged (a brilliant idea I stole from my neighbor--each girl brings AND goes home with exactly one gift!)
7:40 - Girls eat cake and ice cream
8:00 - Girls' parents come and take sugar-loaded children home

The first 25 minutes played out EXACTLY like we'd planned.  The girls all brought blankets/pillows and were very excited to watch the movie.  They loved (and spilled all of) the popcorn

 

And then.  One by one.  They started coming upstairs, saying "i've seen this movie a hundred times," "i'm bored, what else can I do," or "what else is there to eat?"  I was in the middle of getting the game ready--tying each gift to a long piece of Rapunzel's hair (yellow yarn) and all I could say was "go outside and play!"

But Super-Reid saved the day.  Seriously.  He was amazing.  He started playing Red Light/Green Light with the handful of girls that were done with the movie.  And by 6:15 all but two of the girls were in the backyard playing Mother May I with Reid. And somehow he kept them all happy for one whole hour! 

So, around 7:15 the girls came in for the "Tangled Gift Exchange."  The girls absolutely LOVED this game.  None of them knew which gift their strand of hair was attached to.  And the strands definitely got "tangled"--which was the point.  Grace was a trooper.  She really liked the gift she opened--which was an artsy-craftsy gift.  But she also started seeing all the barbies, and fairy dolls that other girls were opening, and she started to get tears in her eyes.  But she just wiped them away and kept going around to her friends.  I witnessed this and my heart just about broke!  I had purchased two gifts as "backups" in case there were any hurt feelings.  And although she didn't ever say a word or complain one bit, I went all softy and decided that it was time for a "backup" gift.  So Reid pulled her aside and let her open the little fairy doll with a glittery horse.  And she was soooooo happy--like a birthday girl should be :)   And THEN, when her friend was disappointed with the gift she'd opened, Grace offered her the art/craft gift--which her friend LOVED.  It was sweet to see these little girls working things out. 

This year, for the first (and not last!) time I actually purchased the birthday cake.  Grace wasn't a big fan of any of the "homemade" options i'd ran by her.  And truthfully--neither was I.  So, a big thanks to Target's bakery--they had the cake she'd "always wanted."  And now, when the girls and I go past any bakery section, we have 20+ minute conversations about what their next cake is gonna be.  I just might not ever make a birthday cake again! :)

Grace absolutely loved her birthday party.  Maybe we'll even let her have another one someday... :)

Grace's actual birthday was a little more low key.  Most of the morning was spent making her classroom treat:

And then, for dinner we went to a restaurant of her choosing--Tres Margaritas.  They put a big sombrero on her head and sang to her--which made her all kinds of shy.  It was cute.

After dinner we came home and opened presents.  It was like pulling teeth trying to get her to tell me what she'd like for her birthday.  Her biggest request was a booster car seat--which she got and loves.  She got some clothes and a Rapunzel beach towel.  I made her a little fleece blanket (by "made" i mean tied the edges) that she loved.  I can't tell if she is just trying to make her poor ole mom feel good, but she sleeps with it every night and tells me all the time how much she loves it.  She's sweet.

She also got some $$ from Grandma Allred.  That was probably the thing that got the best reaction from her.  Not because Grace wants money so she can buy something.  No, no.  My sweet, practical 6 year old is saving up for.....are you ready?  a bank account!  How cute is that?  she went to the bank with Reid a few weeks ago and asked when she could get her own account.  The lady told her she needed $25.  And she has taken it very seriously to start saving up for that! She's more than half way there, and loves to do her $.25 chores that get her closer to her goal. Apart from candy, there's really nothing that Grace ever wants to buy at the store, so I think she's going to reach her goal pretty soon.  And then she might reach her ULTIMATE goal--which is a check from Mom and Dad.  Everytime we pay a babysitter Grace begs for a check of her own. She's so practical--i love it :)

Grace is a rule person.  She does really well with rules.  Of course this doesn't apply to the "being bossy or mean to your sisters is against the family rules" rule.  But with other--more black and white things--like brushing her teeth, paying a tithe, washing her hands after school, taking her dishes to the sink, doing her daily chores, being honest, staying by mom in the parking lot--those kinds of things she does really, really well. 

She loves to learn.  She learns really well from her teachers.  She has done so well in Kindergarten, and has had a wonderful teacher--we're all so sad that it's soon coming to an end. 

Grace protects her sisters. For a 6 year old, she's incredibly responsible and observant.  She'll make a great babysitter someday--i'm calling it. 

She has a very active and sharp mind.  And it's always in motion. She asks questions that constantly stump Reid and me--like "who made God?"?!?!

She's naturally really athletic.  She just finished her first soccer season and caught right up with the other kids who've been playing for a couple years.  She's fast and she loves to run--she will race anyone.

She's very competitive.  She loves to win.  She tries hard to be a good sport, and succeeds much of the time.

She's so excited about Baby Brother joining our family.  She was just 3 years old last time a baby was born into this home--and she doesn't remember it at all.  This will be such a different experience for her.  I'm excited to have her helping hands around. Grace has been saying for a few days now that Baby Brother "is going to come on Wednesday, because I prayed that he would."  I love her faith.  I hope (for many reasons) that she's right.:)

We love you, Grace!  We're so glad to have you in our family!!

Living Room Makeover

According to my good friend, Gina, my old front room "felt like a cave."  We don't get a lot of sunlight in here, and our lamps didn't do a whole lot.  It never bothered me much.  It's cool in the summer time, and cozy in the winters and honestly--i'm just not one whose mood is really affected by the way a room looks.

Gina, however, is.  And she finally convinced me that some light paint, and (buying some and) raising the curtains would make a huge difference. She helped me find my "style"--which was no small task.  She went with me (and our 6 children) on numerous runs to Home Goods, Tuesday Mornings, Savers, GoodWill, garage sales, etc.  And finally things started to come together!  She's amazing!

Unfortunately for her, I'm unlike normal people who are perfectly capable of buying new things to decorate with--for me "decorating" apparently means "rescuing as many old things from the dumpster/Savers and giving them new life."  Bless Gina's heart for not abandoning me mid-way through the whole thing.  She's redone MANY a room, and I'm quite sure that all of them combined didn't take the amount of time that mine did!!

I don't really have many good "before pics."  here are a few from the past 2 years to give you an idea of what the room looked like.  Most of these are during Christmas time....

BEFORE:

before

AFTER:

My mantel--which i LOVE!  I painted/antiqued the green and blue frames and got the big white one from a garage sale. Pardon the birthday sign :)

The drum shade i made following this tutorial (the picture is crooked, not the shade)

Before and after of this sweet $8 chair I got from GoodWill.  My sister-in-law, Jana, helped reupholster this--it probably wouldn't have happened without her!

Before and after of the dresser we painted.  I decided to try to keep the same ugly drawer handles, which i actually love now!  the top left drawer now hinges down and houses our DVD player and remotes (Reid's contribution)

Still to come are pics of the reupholstered ottoman and the antique secretary desk i got. 

I do love my new living room.  I'm so glad Gina made me do it. I don't know if it's completely transformed the way I feel when I'm in it (which was Gina's biggest hope) but having a room that looks so nice motivates me to keep it clean...which makes my husband happy.  And when he's happy, i'm happy :)

A little rambling

I just asked Reid to read this post and make sure there was nothing offensive or inaccurate.  All he had to say was  "it's a little rambly."  And since i'm not one to worry about a little rambling, i'm just gonna click Publish Post now.

No, I haven't had my baby yet.  And yes....

...I'm ready!!!

Well, sort of.  The other night i had about 3 hours of contractions that I thought were going to go somewhere...and i realized how many things i didn't have ready!  So, at 1am I finished packing our hospital bag, got some clothes, pj's, and toothbrushes in a bag for the girls, and panicked about the fact that i'm STILL not ready to have a boy.

It's no small secret that I'm freaked out about the gender of this baby.  Boys scare me.  Everyone who's in the i-have-a-son-and-don't-know-what-i'd-do-without-him club tries to reassure me that i'll be fine, and that boys are the best, way easier than girls, yada yada yada.  And i do believe them...sort of.  But for now, i'm still freaking out.

I'm also freaking out because I remember labor with Eliza. With a little "hypnobirthing" i managed the pain well for the first 7 centimeters-- but it's the last 2.5 that are feeling more and more familiar with each contraction that i have (which averages about 10-20/day).  And although I managed to get my beloved epidural at the very end of labor with her....i'd really prefer it this time before the hardest part of labor.  But my hospital is still 35 minutes away--with no traffic.  And i still haven't convinced my OB to give me a port for my epidural.  So, that's still on my mind some...

I've said all along that I really don't want to be induced.  I went through that with my first--and those contractions were awful.  But one of my close friends--who was due tomorrow--decided to get induced yesterday.  And now she's holding her baby in her arms, and she's no longer pregnant!   I'm experiencing some serious jealousy!!!  I'm starting to reconsider my "will no be induced" theory...but I've still got a few more days before i'm 40 weeks...

I've told my Dr.'s that i don't want to be checked this pregnancy. With the others (especially Eliza) i was so sure everytime they checked that they were going to tell me that i was at a 2, or a 3.  or any number above 0.  But such was never the case.  So, i told them that i don't wanna hear it this go-around.  It's not like it's fun having them check, and it's certainly not fun hearing that all the contractions i have all day are doing NOTHING to my cervix.  So, that's that.

It's kinda weird being knowing that this is the last time I'll be pregnant (assuming we don't have any 'surprises' in our future!).  It makes me feel like I can't complain as much as I want to.  I mean, i'll never have a baby moving inside of me again.  And although most the time he just makes me pee my pants a little--i do love feeling and seeing his kicks, and trying to figure out which limbs are which.  And although my back has hurt more this go-round than any of the others, and my legs are swelling, and my feet are sore and my energy is gone by about noon each day--i feel like there's a small part of me that's actually holding on to this pregnancy.  I guess it's just like any stage of life--it's kinda weird knowing i'm leaving this baby-makin' stage.  Pretty soon I'm going to be the one at the grocery store looking at the young mom with small kids saying "oh, i remember that stage well--it may not feel like it now, but sooner than you think they'll be too big for that cart!"

I've loved sharing his kicks and punches with my girls.  Grace especially loves to feel Baby Brother kick.  Abby doesn't have quite as much patience for it, but she's felt a handful of big kicks.  Eliza.....well, Eliza just found out last month that Baby Brother is a boy.....so i'm not so sure exactly what she thinks about any of this :)  (seriously, i asked her if Baby Brother was a boy or a girl, and she was very certain he was a she.  I guess the term "brother" didn't really have any context for her...)  And, unlike many moms-to-be--i don't mind when people (barring total strangers, i suppose) touch my belly.  For the 4th and final time of my life--it's rock hard. It's solid.  It's not marshmallowy.  It ain't ever gonna be this firm again, folks.  So touch away.

One of the things that has me most nervous about this little guy's arrival is the fact that we still don't have a name for him.  And we're not exactly close, either.  My dear husband, who is named after his two grandpa's, thinks that choosing a family name is the only way to go.  (this apparently only applies to boys, since it never came up ONCE when we were naming our girls....although Eliza is named after her great-great grandmas...)  But the problem is--I don't really like a lot of the family names we have to choose from.   I mean, Victor and Claude and Harry and Peter were and are such great people.  But could I really name our baby any of those?  and Reid's dad's name is....well, it's Reid's dad's name! I don't see the need for two people in the family with the exact same name!  If I dare suggest names that aren't on the family tree, i pretty much get shut down immediately.  We've made no progress.  We don't even really have a list.  i have no idea what we'll name this little guy.

Assuming he really is a little guy.  I've had 4-5 dreams about him--and he's always a she in those dreams!  Our ultrasound was very clear, so I don't know why i still question this.  Maybe it's because my list of girl names is about a mile long...

I've been "nesting" a bit lately, I suppose.  Since Jr. is going to be sleeping in our closet for a while (until he gets to share the other bedroom with his sisters??) there hasn't been much nursery prep to do.  So, with MUCH help from my friend Gina, i've been redoing our front room, and now our guest room.  I'll post pictures soon.  She and her sister-in-law just helped me paint an entire bedroom set, which reminded me of 2.5 years ago when i was painting my kitchen ceiling during early labor with Eliza.  What is it with me and painting things with a big ole' belly??

It's gonna be hard not being able to call my mom as soon as the baby is born.  I'm trying to prepare for that.  The whole month of May was a hard month--with her birthday, Mother's Day, the 1-year anniversary of her death, and Memorial day.  She and this little guy have been on my mind so much.  I would love to have a better understanding of the potential interactions they've had over the past year.  Has his soul met my mom's?  Did she try to prep him for being raised in a house with so many little moms around him?  Or has my mom been my angel?  taking care of me as I carry this little guy?  I don't have any answers, but I can't help but think that the reason their both on my mind soooo much of the time is because of some unique, special and sacred connection between us three--something i certainly don't, and probably can't understand.  And although I know I'm going to feel sorrow when the time comes to start calling family and telling them about his birth, I just keep thinking that I know my mom.  And I know that if she has ANY say in things--she'll be there.  She wouldn't miss this birth for the world. 

Weekend Get-a-way

Over President's Day weekend we took a little family vacation.  Maybe it would even qualify as a staycation.  'Cause we didn't really go that far, but we saw all sorts of new sights--all within about a 100 mile radius of our house.

We started with the 700-year-old Anasazi cliff dwellings just outside of Colorado Springs. The girls loved this place.  Everything in it is size small.  And everything was "hands-on."  We climbed in and out of the dwellings.  The girls thought it was like a big doll house.  I kept wondering how pregnant ladies got in and out of those little doors every day.

Our next stop was the old mining town Cripple Creek.  Most of the touristy things were shut down for the season, but there was the Annual Cripple Creek Ice Festival going on, which was actually really cool (pun slightly intended).  I'd never seen the "making of" process before, so it was fun watching the dudes with their hair dryers and chisels.  The theme was "Children's Stories" so there was a Dr. Seuss display, Chronicles of Narnia, a couple ambiguous sculptures and an ice slide.  Good times.

We also spent some time in the town's museum learning about mining and how big a part of our state's history it is.  And I'm just gonna pretend that I knew about the link between Colorado's gold mining and the fact that there's a US Mint here in Denver.  'Cause the lady explaining it looked at me like I really should've known that.

After the lady at the tourist center told us that in all her life she only knew "a handful of people who had died on those narrow roads," we opted to take the road more traveled to our next destination, rather than the (in)famous Phantom Highway.  We got to Canon City just in time for dinner and a swim in the hotel's outdoor heated pool.  It was, according to our girls, the "best part of our trip!!!!"  And might I just add that John Wayne, John Bellushi, Jane Fonda and many other movie stars had stayed in that hotel?  They've got signs on all the room doors telling you who stayed where.  Our room had once been occupied by the lovely Goldie Hawn.  Apparently there were tons of cowboy flicks filmed in the area back in the day.  And the Quality Inn there housed them all. 

The next morning we headed to see the "second highest suspension bridge in the world!!"

Royal Gorge Bridge is suspended over the Arkansas River (I'm also gonna just pretend I knew that the Arkansas river runs through Colorado) and it is AWESOME!!  They've got a whole park built around the bridge--which is good and bad.  If you have a few hours, it's lots of fun.  But if you just wanna walk over the bridge and not do the other stuff--you still have to pay the park's over-priced entrance fee.  Unless you're with me, of course!!  I somehow talked the lady into letting Reid and the girls in for free if I paid my entrance fee. It probably helped that their biggest attraction--the Tram--was closed.  And it was off-season.  And we were the first ones there.  And i just have magical powers that allow me to do that sort of thing.

We had fun walking across the bridge.  And Eliza, for whatever cute reason, was absolutely convinced that hundreds of feet below her she saw "cwocodiles!!"  It was the cutest thing.  She was screaming it, over and over "I see cwocodiles!! I see cwocodiles!!"  And then she'd throw herself back down on the bridge to look through the cracks to see them some more.

The girls thought it was pretty cool watching Reid's spit take 15+ seconds to reach the river below.

And me?  i just panicked every time a car drove across the bridge while we were on it.  I mean, who decided that suspension bridges actually work anyway?  'cause I'm not sold.

On the other side of the bridge was the Mountain Man Encampment, the Wildlife Park, and the (closed) petting zoo.

And last, but not least--the Royal Rush Skycoaster.  We thought our girls would get a kick out of watching people do this, so we sat down and watched two ladies on this ride.  (We didn't know that they were Mrs. and Miss Potty-Mouths, or we probably wouldn't have been so close.)  But you know who else got a kick out of it?  Reid!  So much so, that he decided to do it!  Never, in a million years, would I ever consider doing this, so I welcomed my built-in excuse (thank you, unborn son o' mine).  But Reid got all gutsy and took the dive!  And, unlike the previous riders, when he dove head first toward the cement, he omitted the four-letter words and merely screamed like a school girl.  But by the time he started to swing out over the canyon, he was loving it! It was pretty awesome.  And i was totally impressed that he did it!  That's my man!   (note: my camcorder died moments before he plunged.  He denies having screamed like a little girl.  So it's just his word against mine... who you gonna believe?)

Our last stop was the one and only castle (that i know of) in Colorado.  I'm not sure what it takes to qualify as a castle, but the guy that built this thing-- with his own hands, from scratch--calls it a castle.  And if he wants to call it a castle?  I'm gonna call it a castle. 

I'd heard about Bishop's Castle several times.  But i never imagined that it was going to be so insanely HUGE!!!  It was amazing. 

Although their parents were panicked about the structural safety issues of the castle (e.g. steep staircases with no hand rails, a waiver that everyone has to sign, the fact that one dude just built this thing to tick off the government, etc) the girls absolutely loved this castle. 

Especially the "ballroom"

And what girl doesn't dream of dancing with her prince in a real ballroom?!?!

It was a fun little get-a-way weekend.  We loved spending some time with our kids.  They're at such a fun and easy stage to travel with.  And this was perhaps the last time our family will all fit in one hotel room!  I'm just glad we could share that room with Goldie.