Family

My cousins were in town with my Nona for a week at the beginning of July and Oliver was in heaven. Not only did they play with him and let him boss them around but they brought some pretty sweet costumes from their collection with them. I, of course, failed to take very many pictures but Marsha took a few.

A shot of everyone in the pool.
Cousins, 2nd Cousins, Nona, and Uncle Grant and Auntie Shelagh:)
We have had several family birthday celebrations over the past weeks. Here are a few shots!

One Month

Crosby was one month at the beginning of July and I wanted to post his sats from his wellness check up. He was 10 lbs. 9 oz. and 22.5 inches long. The nurse practitioner was very happy with how well he was doing and impressed by how strong he was. As for the rest of us, we are now pretty adjusted to having another little one in the house. The transition has been a lot easier than I expected. I think we were pretty used to a certain level of chaos and now we've just added to it.

It has been really fun to see how the older ones have responded to Crosby. Wesley was not so sure about the whole thing when we first got home from the hospital. He was out of sorts for a few days but as soon as he realized that mommy wasn't going anywhere and neither was this little human he adapted quickly. And although both of our boys have a nurturing and sweet heart Wesley, more than Oliver, likes to imitate what I do for the baby with his stuffed animals. He likes to feed his Elmo doll and walk it in the shopping cart (his best substitute for a play stroller). He is always giving Crosby kisses and trying to give him whatever snack he is eating (I have to keep a watchful eye on this, the other day he shoved a goldfish in Crosby's mouth while my back was turned:) And he also likes to help me burp baby, he is a little less gentle that I would like him to be but I have to praise him for wanting to help. We are working on the being gentle thing.

Oliver has been a huge help. He is very gentle and loving and will get me diapers and other things I need when I ask him to. He especially likes to talk to Crosby when he is awake. He tells him all about his Star Wars toys because, in his mind, you are never to young to learn who is a good guy and bad guy.

Although, there are moments where I wonder what we got ourselves into most of the time I just feel blessed. I can't imagine my life now without my three handsome little boys.

Crosby at one month!
Wesley taking care of the cabbage patch doll.

Newborn Shoot

These photos were taken when Crosby was just over a week old by one of my friends who specializes in Maternity and Newborn photography. She also happens to be a NICU nurse and after we watched her during this shoot we started to call her the "baby whisperer." She is so talented with little ones and it was a blessing to watch her work. The photos she got are awesome and we are truly thankful that she took the time out of her schedule to capture these images of Crosby. Thanks Bri. We are in awe:)

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Crosby: A Birth Story

I wanted to take some time to record what happened the day that our third sweet little boy was born. I will say that if there is one thing I have learned from my three deliveries it's that the labor process is as different as the kids are, both in look and personality, when they come out. There was not much that was the same about my three labors other than the fact that at the end, we had a healthy baby. I like to call Crosby my little trickster because I probably thought I was in labor three or four times before I actually ended up in the hospital delivering. I had so many contractions, NOT Braton Hicks contractions but real deal painful contractions, that seemed to produce absolutely no results. And there is nothing more frustrating to a women in her final weeks of pregnancy than to think she is going into labor and then be faced with the reality that she is not.

So on the morning of June 7th when I woke up at about 5:45 in the morning with some contractions I was determined that I would do my best to not get my hopes up. Although there was definitely part of me that thought this had to be it. So when at 8:00 or so my contractions seemed to be subsiding I stormed into the living room and informed Michael that I was going on a walk. I was not sure how much more of these false contractions I could stand.

When I got home from my walk I said, "Let's go runs some errands." I really was set on keeping my mind off of how ridiculously pregnant I was. When we got to my Dad's office to fax something the contractions started up again. I just ignored them. I was so done with trying to time and calculate to see if they were getting close together plus I knew I had a doctors appointment in an hour or so I figured at least then I would know what was going on.

Arriving at the doctor I was still contracting with my fingers crossed for some kind of dialation. When the nurse practitioner checked me I was 3 cm and she "stripped my membranes" which in other words is an attempt to jump start something under the hood. You're welcome for my car imagery. When I got home from the doctor I was in significant pain from the little procedure and contractions and after about thirty minutes or so we decided to head to the hospital. After we got situated the nurse checked me again and not much had changed so she figured the stripping of my membranes had pushed me once again into false labor. She promised to check again in an hour and let me know I could walk around if I wanted. As the hour progressed I kept thinking, "this has to be it." I was hurting too much for it not to be. And when she checked me again and I was nearly 5 cm she realized I was going to have the baby and she had better get moving if we were going to get me an epidural.

We transfered rooms, thankfully because there was quite an audience for Crosby's big appearance, drew blood, got me on an IV, and most importantly called for the epidural man:) Meanwhile I struggled through my contractions which were very painful at this point (I probably was close to 7 cm by the time I got my meds). And well, the rest is history. We got to the hospital around 12:30 and I delivered our sweet baby boy at 4:44 pm. Luckily, the nurse had caught on to how quickly things progress for me once the labor process has started and she called my Dr. in enough time for her to actually arrive at the hospital before the baby's head was about to come out. And so we welcomed Crosby Sawyer Fay into the world on June 7th 2011 at 4:44 in the afternoon. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 8oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. Perfect in every way. And he was most definitely welcomed with a great amount of LOVE. We all anticipate what this little one with bring to our ever growing family. We love you Crosby.

Maternity Shoot

Okay so I know I am REALLY behind when it comes to blogging but I need you to cut me a little slack. It's been a crazy 6 weeks. But I know that there is family that rely on this blog to keep them updated so I will attempt to get you all up to speed. It might take me some time but I will get caught up:)

These are some of my most favorite pictures from the maternity shoot that Steph did when I was about 36 weeks pregnant. They are, as they always are, absolutely beautiful. I say this every time we do a shoot but we truly are so blessed to have Stephanie to capture these precious moments of our lives. Time goes so fast As I write this Crosby is already one month old so it just makes me even more thankful to her for catching these moments and memories for us. Thank you Auntie Steph!