Big Brother

Since bringing Mack home, Oliver has adjusted incredibly well. This first day was a bit of a struggle, which we completely understand, but since then we haven't had too much trouble! I mentioned once that Oliver was pretty well potty trained, he just can't get his pants up and down on his a own. We had lots of people tell us it probably wouldn't last, and we honestly didn't know if it would, once we had the baby, but to our great surprise Oliver has continued to go potty on his toilet! He gets diapers for nap and for bed time, but quite frequently he wakes up dry from both of those! We are so proud of him!
He has been such a good big brother, bringing Mack tractors to play with, giving him kisses, and wanting to hold him constantly, but we can tell there are times when he really needs some attention. Terry takes him and plays with him outside for awhile which can normally solve the problem, but he has been wanting mom time the last couple of days. Since I can't pick him up, and my movement is limited, we got Mack to sleep in the swing and we cuddled up on the recliner to play on the tablet. We ended up taking plenty of "selfies" which he thought was great! I know I sure enjoyed our time together, and I sure hope Oliver did too!

"Mom time"

Our first few days home. Oliver is showing uncle Bradden all of the tractors in his magazine in the top left picture.

Mack Attack

We attempted some newborn pictures. This little boy does not like to be unswaddled, so we had a hard time getting too many of him naked! Those are my favorite ones too. So here are a few we did get. 

Big shout out to my mom for helping me take these, especially our family one, I'm surprised she was able to get a good one out of Oliver!

 

My mom also made Mack this cute little hat, Oliver had a tractor one. It needed to match the Mack Truck!

Big yawn!

Love these boys!

Repeat. But I just love this one!

Mack T. Walton

He is here! We finally have our baby! 

Mack T. Walton 

8lbs. 6oz. 18.5in

3/5/14 7:26am

I will quickly give his birth story here.

39.2 weeks. The morning Mack was born.

After 3 weeks of having contraction 2-3 minutes apart, being dialated to a 4, having my c-section date moved back 2 days, and well, being pregnant... we finally went in Wednesday morning at 5:30 to get checked in and ready for a planned c-section. My last one was an emergency cs, so we had no clue what to expect this time around. It was real simple though. We got there, they monitored the baby for 20 minutes and then we got all ready for surgery. With Oliver I had to be put under because my epidural didn't take the way it was supposed to, so this time I was given a spinal block. It was perfect. I was able to be awake for the whole process. I can't believe what I missed out on with Oliver. They rolled me back at about 7 to the operating room and they finished prepping me. The anesthesiologist was awesome, between him and Terry I got a play by play on what was going on. He didn't even strap my arms down. I reeaaalllly liked him. At 7:26am Mack was born. The incubator thing (I don't know exactly what they are called) was right next to me so I was able to see him right away. As soon as he was cleaned up a little bit, they brought him over to me so I could touch him (I wasn't allowed to hold him, obviously). I wish I had that experience with Oliver! I was able to watch the nurses finish cleaning him, and run the various tests. He scored a 9 on his Apgar Test, and after talking to the nurse who gave him the score, he was a 9.9 almost a 10 but she doesn't give 10's out very easily. I was told over and over how perfect he was. Terry was able to hold him while in the O.R. and brought him back over to me so I could get a better look. 

I went back into recovery for about 30 minutes while Mack was taken and given a bath, weighed and measured. I couldn't believe he came out to be so big! I gained 2 pounds less with Mack than Oliver but Mack was the bigger baby. 8.06 is pretty big!

We had to stay two nights in the hospital. While Mack did awesome, I had a few minor complications. The first day I threw up ALL day long. I told them I couldn't handle strong pain medication and they ignored me. But that wasn't even the worst part. The second day we found out that my intestines were "paralyzed," temporarily of course. But because of that, all of the gas that my body produced from what I had eaten, was just stuck in my belly. My stomach bloated, and I was in more pain from that, than from having my stomach cut open. I will forever appreciate the ability to pass gas. Yep, I just said that. I would never wish that on anyone. That same night however, my body finally started to wake up, and we were able to be discharged the next day. Like I said, Mack did great, I was the one having all the problems. 

We are so glad he is finally here. We love him so much. Even Oliver. The first day was hard, but now he is all about having a baby brother. Oliver is also potty trained now, and has continued to do well, even with bringing Mack home. We couldn't be more proud parents. We just love our boys, and are so incredibly blessed!

FYI- the T. Stands for Terry, but we didn't like the sound of Mack Terry Walton, so we just shortened it up a bit. Mack has an aunt whose middle name is also just a T!

Before and After

Terry has become quite the handy man. Our home is so outdated, we have been slowly doing what we can to make it more modern. This was our first major project, and we will never have another one like it! Everything else compared to this will be a cake walk. So, here is our big reveal! Of course all of the before pictures are only from my phone. so bear with me. Terry also got a little ahead of me and started all of this before I was able to get really good before shots!

Here is our major stone wall that went through the middle of the room. It had an insert wood burning stove on one side and a fireplace the other. On the opposite side of the stove was a closet. Terry had to take down all of the stone, brick, cement, you name it, as well as the chimney. We had people asking us if we were okay, because they thought we had a chimney fire!

Before

Our 12ft long mirror.... hated to see it go.... ha

  

And here is the after.....

Don't mind all the baby gear, toys, and whatever else you might find lying around...

Terry has said that if we ever build a house, we will have exposed beams. He's a sucker for them!

We put in a new wood stove that actually works Our house gets cookin'!

 Terry did such a great job on the living room. I simply cannot brag about him enough! We had plenty of friends and family who were more than will to give up their time and talents (Terry learned quite a bit from this) to help us get this done. We were really hesitant at doing it, because it was quite the project to tackle, but we couldn't be more happy with the results!!

While we were at it, we decided to remodel the bathroom as well. Okay, actually, we had to. The shower had been leaking, for who knows how long, and our walls were literally crumbling, and falling over. So we had to do it. After cleaning all the mold, and replacing some studs along with the sheet roc, Terry finally finished!

Before

(once again, just off my phone..)

After

I'm still working on getting it all cleaned...

 

I love our new vanity. Of course it's piled up with the shower caddie.... and other crap.. ha

 We found out our shower was so small, it wasn't even up to code anymore. We were originally just going to put a shower unit in, instead of tiling it, thinking it would be cheaper and easier, but we would have had to get custom made shower doors and we couldn't find a base that would fit in the bathroom. So, we decided to bag the unit and tile it. Since the door was still so expensive, we decided to just use a curtain, and the more we talked about the curtain the more I liked it. We have hard water, and those shower doors do not clean very well, so instead, I can just throw the curtain away, and replace it! Sure makes cleaning easy!

This was a huge year for our house, I refinished our kitchen and mudroom cupboards, we painted the exterior of the house, put up a fence, took out the nasty stone wall, and refinished the bathroom. While we still have a lot left to do on the house, we are loving how it is all turning out. Terry is such a champ, he's done it all! I'm sure glad I married such a go-getter. This year we will do some small projects, like paint all of the doors, get a new water heater, and re-insulate the attic. Hopefully our next big project will be the master bath.... I can't wait!

Valentine's Day

Welp. We sure are exciting folk. What did we do to celebrate Valentine's?? We painted the almost finished bathroom, or I painted it. And that was about it! We didn't even exchange gifts, because neither of us got each other anything. Perfect. We did end up going out to dinner, me in !y paint clothes, and Terry in his work clothes. Oliver looked the most classy out of all 3 of us! It was kind of fun not doing the traditional routine of Valentine's Day. Terry will randomly bring me home chocolate milk or i'll make him his favorite cookie (no bakes, in case you were wondering) and those are the days I feel our love is shown and expressed to one another best! Plus, Terry has been working like crazy on the house this winter, and if that isn't love and devotion to a wife I don't know what is! I sure am glad Terry and Oliver were my Valentine's, maybe next year we'll be more on top of things.... But maybe not. I did see something that said something like "If you don't have a Valentine on Valentine's Day, don't worry, ypou probably didn't have a groundhog on groundhog's day!" So true.


Baby update. Been having contractions everyday for a week now. At some points 2-3 minutes apart. But when I went in for my doctor's appointment, no progress. The baby is basically as low as he's going to get though! I'm 37 weeks tomorrow, so i'm allowed to attempt to "naturally" induce. We'll see if we can get anything to happen, but I won't cross my fingers!

35.6

We've made it to 35 weeks and 6 days! After tomorrow I can go into labor anytime and the doctors won't stop me. I'm sure this little one won't come that soon, and Terry and I both think I'll make it all the way to the 3rd of March, which is my c-section date. I wouldn't complain however, if he decided to make his debut a little earlier than that! I've been nesting like crazy, trying to get projects done, especially ones that aren't really even important. The baby has dropped, I'm guessing not all the way yet, but at least we're progressing!

 

These two pictures were both taken at 35 weeks 6 days. You can't tell that great in the picture below with Oliver, but I got huge with him (I blame it on the 3 pounds of EXTRA amniotic fluid). So I feel quite a bit smaller with this little guy. At my last appointment I actually weighed less a week further along than with Oliver. I'm glad I've stayed at the same weight gain range with this one since I haven't been nearly as sick.

 

 A week ago, the baby already weighed 6 lbs. Doc told me to plan on an over 8 lb. baby. This is after moving my due date up almost a whole week! He also said the baby has a big head. Of course. All the more reason to have a c-section! 

Oliver and his friend found a doll that my mom had sent home with me from when I was a little girl. Every now and then we catch him tucking the baby in his bed, covered in 3 or 4 blankets, with a toy, and a sippy cup, followed by a kiss. He is really quite adorable. I don't doubt we'll all have some major adjustments when this little one gets here, but I think Oliver will manage just fine. 

The doctor will check me this week to see if I'm progressing at all. He said he'd pretty well be able to tell if I'd make it to my c-section date or not. My guess is that I'm not dialated at all, and a slim chance of any effacing. I'd love to be, but I won't but any bets on it! Of course, I'm planning on doing all I can to "naturally induce" but once again, I won't put money on that working either.

We can't wait for this guy to get here. The next post could very likely be his birth announcement, since I've been quite the slacker with keeping this thing update lately!

V-Day

Oliver and I got bored, so we decided to take some pictures! Just in time for Valentine's Day!

He was trying to whistle right here, it was stinkin' cute!

He did so well, I'm surprised I got as many shots as I did. At the end he gave up and grabbed the biggest tractor he could find to run everything over with. Typical.