More pictures

It has been SO hard to narrow down which pictures to post ... there are a LOT of them. I'll try and get some of my favorites posted over the next couple of days starting with the collage below. Most of the pictures from Pryce's BIRTHday and his first week at home can now be viewed on our Shutterfly picture site.
Enjoy!

Pryce Richard Rankin has arrived!

Pryce was born on August 19th, 2007 at 10:17am
He weighed 6 1/2 lbs and measured 19.5 inches long

Here we are with Dr. Thomas

Ready or not, here I come ....

Pryce decided to follow in his brother's footsteps and make an early debut ... 17 days before his due date.
Thank goodness Grandma and Grandad Rankin were in town and already at our house to look after Everett. Since Everett's labor and delivery went so quickly, we didn't waste much time getting to the hospital. My water broke just before 6am and we were in the car on our way shortly after 7am. Here's a couple pictures of us before we headed out.

By the time we got to the hospital (7:15am), my contractions were just starting and about 5 minutes apart. We didn't miss one last chance for a "belly shot" before I changed into my lovely, standard issue hospital gown.

At a little after 8am I was 2-3 cm dilated and 95% effaced. I started calling my close friends and family while I waited for the nurse to give me my IVs and for my epidural to be administered.

Shortly after 8:45, I was at 4cm and still 95% effaced. We were prepared to spend a little time waiting so David and I started playing a card game. Around 9:55 I told the nurse I was feeling some pressure and pain so she checked my progress .... low and behold I was completely dilated and ready to get to work. The nurse called Dr. Thomas (the on-call doctor) and the room started bustling with activity. Pryce didn't waste any time ... he arrived a quick 5 minutes and two contractions after we got started. Thanks Mom for passing along the "quick n easy" child birth gene. :)

37 week checkup

I just returned from my weekly doctor's appointment. Unfortunately, I have no news to report. I'm still at 1cm and everything (my blood pressure, baby's heart rate, my weight gain, etc) looks fine. Maybe Pryce won't be quite as anxious to be born as his brother was. The doc did comment on how active the little fella' is ... Ain't that the truth ... I've gotten really used to feeling little, sharp feet vigorously kicking my right side.

Walk down memory lane

(Picture take 9/11/2005)
As David and I patiently wait for the birth of our second son, we can't help but reminisce about Everett's birth and relive the joy and laughter that accompanied it. Since I didn't start blogging until Everett was almost 10 months old and I'm just NOW getting around to writing in his baby book (oh the guilt and shame that comes with that confession!) we have never "documented" some of the entertaining anecdotes that we still find so amusing. Just tonight we shared quite a giggle over one such story.

To set the scene, you should know that I was raised Catholic and had marked this as my religious preference on my hospital admission form. The day after Everett was born I was in my hospital room, quite understandably sleep-deprived and somewhat delirious when I heard a knock at the door. In enters a very pleasant, elderly woman who identified herself as Mary from St. Mark's (my church). She came in to congratulate me on the birth of my son and asked if I'd like to receive communion. I said ok and so she proceeded to ask me to pray with her. As soon as she asked me to join her in the Lord's Prayer and we bowed our heads, I realized my dilemma ... hmmm ... is dilemma even the right word? My mistake? My awkward plight? I had neglected to evaluate the fact that maybe this wasn't quite the right time to welcome this woman into my room or to receive the sacrament of communion. It just so happened that only a few feet to the right side of my hospital bed, behind the small white door that held the small shower and uh toilet, sat my very sweet and also very sleep deprived husband. I could barely control my nervous giggle as I feared that at any moment, maybe even right after "On earth as it is in Heaven" the toilet might flush loudly and my husband walk out. I also worried that my husband might be "sitting" there cursing me for "trapping" him in the bathroom under these very awkward circumstances. I was so relieved when Mary and I finished our prayer, I received communion and she wished me well and exited the room. Almost immediately the toilet flushed and out walked my husband who (thank goodness) did find the humor in the situation. He looked at me and said "Aren’t you glad I fought the urge to say "AMEN" ?!?!?" Oh bless him!

Everett's new bed & new brother update

As I type this, Everett is sleeping soundly in his new "big boy" bed. He looked so proud of himself as Daddy read him a bedtime story that I had to snap a picture ... even though I knew doing so might completely ruin the "it's time for bed" mood (luckily it didn't). I purchased this used toddler bed for him over a month ago, but so far he's only taken one nap in it since we hadn't really gotten around to setting up his "new" room. (We will put his little brother in his old room.) Everett's new bedroom furniture arrived today so now that the room isn't so empty, we figured it was time to let him sleep in there. We really should have done this much sooner to give him plenty of time to adjust before his little brother gets here ... but well, that just didn't happen! David stayed in the room with him for a few minutes as he fell asleep and so far I haven't heard a peep out of him. Hopefully he'll sleep through the whole night.

Everett's little brother ---- the doc says he could arrive at any time now! I had my 36 week checkup on Thursday and was told that I'm already 1cm dilated and 90% effaced - Yikes! Looks like he might be an early bird just like Everett (who was 3 weeks early). I really hope he'll wait a few more days before making his appearance as there's still so much to do. I spent much of today sorting through and washing baby clothes and started packing my bag for the hospital. I haven't gone into complete and frantic nesting mode yet (which I did about 2 days before E's birth) so I hope that means I've still got a couple days to get ready for the little guy. I had always thought it would be neat for him to have an August 11th birthday since Everett & Leslie's birthday are Sept and October 11th ... but since there's less than an hour left to August 11th ... I think I can now rule that out.

We have a new name chosen for E's little brother. Unless we change our minds again (which would not at all be surprising) ... our second son will be named Pryce. Pryce is a Welsh name whose meanings include "son of the loving man" and "prize". Since he will be both, I think the name is quite fitting. We are still debating on if we should spell this "Pryce" or "Price" ... any thoughts out there?

Better get back to the laundry ... between E's baby clothes and Karly & Brayden's hand-me-downs .... there's A LOT of baby clothes to sort and wash! I'm sure when I'm sleep deprived and delirious, I'll be happy to not have to do laundry as often ... but until then, it's quite a project getting it all sorted and put away!

Choo Choo Train

Everett has enjoyed playing with the trains Daddy has had packed and stored away for the past 20+ years. He looked like such a little boy this week with his bball cap on pushing the cars and trains along the track as his sweet little voice sang "choo choo".

Scootin' around

Everett spends a lot of time pushing around his first "car" that Uncle Mark and Aunt Helen bought him. Today he was actually sitting in it and scooting around the kitchen (rather than pushing it) and really enjoying himself. He sure is a happy little boy. We love that he's so affectionate and we get hugs and kisses from him pretty regularly. How sweet it is to be doing dishes and then feel those little arms wrap around your legs for an unsolicited hug. :) I'm already sad to think the day will inevitably come when it's not cool to hug and kiss Mom ... But until then, I'll relish every ounce of affection our precious little boy wants to share!

Shoes

Everett loves wearing Mommy & Daddy's shoes these days. It's also one of his favorite words. We hear "shoes" quite often and he's usually pretty good at helping Mommy look for his shoes when we're trying to get ready for school. I also heard a lot this week - "door", "it's stuck", and "open" as in "Mom, open up this play-doh so I can try to eat it!"

Everett has also experienced quite a growth spurt lately. There have been a few days over the past couple weeks when I've got him out of bed or picked him up from school and thought "Is it my imagination, or did he grow since I last saw him?!?!" It sure seems like it happens overnight! He can now reach up and turn on and off the light switch and is just about to hit his head when walking under the kitchen counter! I'll be curious to hear what percentile he's in for his height at his 2 year checkup in September. He is definitely tall for his age. (pretty amazing with a 5'2" Mom!)

Quick visit to the Grandparents'

We made a quick trip out to the lake last weekend to visit Grandma and Grandad Rankin. This was the last weekend I felt comfortable traveling more than 30 minutes away from our hospital (since E was 3 weeks early and his brother's due date is only about 5 weeks off). David reminded me that the veterinarians out there are available 24/7 and they were more than qualified to perform a delivery if needed. Ha! I'm sure he's right, but I'd rather give birth in the comfort of a hospital with an epidural readily available!!

We all had a nice visit and Everett had a blast as always. He loves going in the paddle boat with his Grandad. He completely mellows out as soon as his life vest is on and they hit the water. You hear about parents putting their fussy kids in the car and driving them around so they'll fall asleep .... a few lapse around in the paddle boat would do the trick for Everett!

Everett slept in his grandparent's room (ahh - a night of monitor-free sleep!) and he woke up his Grandma saying "hello" (more like "heyyo"). I didn't even realize he was saying certain words until Brenda pointed them out. In addition to hello, we heard Lefty (dog's name), fishies, and kitty ("here kitty, kitty") to name a few.

Everett also loves playing with the toys at the lake.

Nap time

Uncle Mark and cousin Hayley looked so comfy taking an afternoon nap.