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.

34 week checkup

I had my routine doctor's appointment yesterday. I was happy to hear that our little guy is now head down and in the right position for delivery ... whenever he decides that should be. His heart rate was 153 and he is 4.13 lbs. His measurements yesterday reflected a Sept 9th due date ... maybe he and Everett will share a birthday (Sept 11th) ... although since E was 3 weeks early the doc says there's a good chance this little fella will be as well. (I guess we need to get busy preparing for him to arrive!!) Since he's so big now, it's hard to get very good pictures of him. The first picture labeled as a profile shot is actually looking at him from a somewhat downward facing angle. I've looked at it quite a few times and each time it takes me a while to make out his nose and lips. You can see his hand curled up next to his face. The sono tech also confirmed that his legs and feet are the sharp, knobby objects that have been frequently kicking my right side for the past month or so. I think he's going to be one heck of a soccer player!

The rest of the appointment was fairly uneventful - thank goodness I've had a pretty boring pregnancy! I climbed on the scale and found that I'd gained almost 5 lbs since my last appointment 3 weeks ago (oops). I'm now about 5 lbs away from my final weight when Everett was born (although I feel like my belly is much bigger at this point in this pregnancy). I would expect that my weight gain will slow since I am pretty miserable after eating even the smallest amounts of food (this baby is now occupying the space once reserved for my stomach).

We are still very undecided on a name for our second son and are welcoming any suggestions!! We originally were leaning towards Kyle, then Eli became a possibility and this week we've been tossing around Kevin again. We've always loved the names Elliott and Emmett but have decided they just sound to much like Everett ... I'm sure I'll have a hard enough time keeping their names straight when I'm tired or frustrated ... no sense making it any harder. So please send your name suggestions or comments our way ... hopefully this guy will have a name chosen for him before he arrives!

Chopsticks

Last week David and I picked up some Vietnamese food for dinner and a pizza for Everett. We cut up E's pizza and put it on the table for him, but he was more interested in checking out our food as we unpacked our containers at the counter. In an effort to distract him (and keep him from pulling our styrofoam containers of food on top of him) David handed him a set of chopsticks. I unwrapped them for him and said (kiddingly) "Now go eat your pizza". Without missing a beat, he crawled back in his chair, and started very efficiently stabbing at his pizza and placing the bites in his mouth. Maybe it's time to take him out for sushi!

Father's day pictures

I've been meaning to get these posted and just keep forgetting! We had some photos taken Father's day weekend. We surprised David last year with a Father's day picture of Leslie and Everett, and since we didn't get around to doing it early enough to surprise him with a framed photo this year, we just took him along to the photo shoot. (Great idea, Leslie!) We had never had a professional "family" picture taken and we were pretty happy with how some of them turned out. We were especially happy that Everett was so cooperative and smiled for the camera.

Aunt Molly in town!

We were so thrilled to have Aunt Molly come visit us last week! We hadn't seen her since Christmas and that's WAY too long! We sure miss her now that she's living in LA, but we're glad to see her happy & healthy, enjoying good friendships, her job and I'm sure MUCH better weather than we've had around here!
I was a total slacker taking pictures while Molly was here, but here's one I got of our ladies' lunch with our wonderful Mom last Friday. We went to downtown McKinney, did a little shopping and had a WONDERFUL meal at Rick's Chophouse on the square. We also got a tour of the Grand Hotel and Ballroom which were both beautiful - great venues for a wedding or other special event. I plan to take David back for dinner sometime soon.

We miss you already, Mol! Whenever you're ready to move back, we'll be more than happy to help you unpack!! :)

Happy Anniversary!

David and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel on July 4th. We had a wonderful dinner at the steakhouse and then saw some great fireworks. We had been invited to a fireworks viewing party from the casino hotel rooftop which unfortunately was canceled due to the weather. We still had a pretty nice view from the top of the parking garage and it was nice to have some time alone and have a night of baby-monitor-free sleeping! Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting!!!
Three years doesn't seem like an awfully long time to be married, but they sure have been three busy years! Between selling two homes, buying one, home renovations, running our business, experiencing some family illnesses, taking trips, etc. and ... of course most importantly, growing our family, we've already experienced a lot together as a married couple! Everett is now 22 months old and his little brother is scheduled to arrive in a short 57 days (yikes!). It's true that time sure flies when you're having fun! And fun is an understatement .... Thanks, David for the BEST three years of my life so far! I love you!

For those of you who haven't seen me (and my growing belly) in a while ... here's a picture.

Celebrating July 4th at the lake

We drove from Branson straight to the lake on Saturday, June 30th for the annual Rankin Independence Day festivities. Everett was excited to see everyone and didn't waste any time getting Grandad to take him and Lefty on a walk.















We had heard about the abundance of rain which had fallen on Texas while we were gone, but we were not prepared to see so much of the Rankin's property under water!
Here's a picture of the spot where David and I were married.














And here's a picture of how it looked on our wedding day - July 4th, 2004

You'll notice there is actually a goldfish pond on the far side of the bridge that was completely under water after all the rain.

Getting out to the boat dock required wading through quite a bit of water!

David stocked up on fireworks while we were in Missouri so the family put on a pretty nice fireworks show that evening. Hard to believe that this time last year there was a ban on fireworks because it was so dry!

Here's a few more pictures from the weekend at the lake. I'll try to post the rest that I took on our shutterfly site soon. Hayley looked so cute in her holiday dress!

Branson Trip

We took a trip to Branson, Missouri at the end of June. Grandma & Grandad Rankin joined us and we had a wonderful time. We enjoyed the perfect combination of rest and play and we managed to leave without E being completely spoiled rotten after almost a full week with his Grandparents.

Our condo had a huge whirlpool bath in it which was much bigger than Everett's blow-up backyard pool at home.


We had a full kitchen and since we had "Chef David" with us, we ate almost every meal in the comfort of our own place ... and we ate quite well I must say!

Everett enjoyed feeding his Grandparents banana pudding.
And playing at the really nice beach on Table Rock Lake - we didn't expect to visit a beach while in Branson - what a nice surprise!

Grandma and Grandad had to leave on Thursday morning and we didn't drive back until Saturday. Everett was VERY sad when they left and knocked on their door a few times after they left hoping they were still there. Shortly after they left, he brought David his baseball cap, grabbed him by the finger and pulled him over to his stroller where he emphatically pointed indicating it was time for a walk. Grandad had taken E on many walks while he was there so E was sure to let his Dad know that he'd have to pick up the slack in his absence. Here's a picture of Everett with his Grandparents before they left. We had such a nice visit with them and were so glad they were able to spend some of our vacation with us!