brother time

lots of this going on lately....hopefully it is just the beginning of lots of brother time to come



somebody LOVES their big brother--

we're back, we've moved, and we're crazy

so we are back to the blog....hoping to be a bit more consistent now.  we are somewhat settled in our new town and house with looming DIYs still going on and causing me to feel behind ALWAYS.  charlie is a month in to residency and it is busy.  he is great help and fun when he is home, but unfortunately those times are kept to a minimal....thanks s&w.  we love the new house and i hope to post some the DIYs that have gone on and will continue to go on.  we've painted every wall in the house...with exception of the mudroom...which will be done when our distaste (brought on by long hours with a roller attached to our arm) for painting has waned.  i have begun working 2 days a week at a SNF,  but really cherish the days i am home with the boys and able to make our house a home.  i'll jump start my resurgence to blog life with pictures from the boys' room.  this was a bit of a labor of love for me.  i made all the linens for the room and had so much fun coming up with the design/theme.  really, i cannot take all the credit, as charlie suggested we buy some vintage tour de france posters to hang in the room.  this was my jumping off point and where all the colors/ideas stemmed from.

this is the room before we moved in.....

and this is the room now.....




this is the view from the other side...




a few other shots....





in case you are interested....i used very easy tutorials for both the crib sheet and changing pad cover at www.prudentbaby.com


----i should add a picture of my baby boys, who...#1 are growing like crazy and #2 are the reason i put energy into things like this.  (to be honest, they could probably care less at this age....but smith did have a pretty great smile when he first saw the room....ahhhh, so worth it)

flashback friday (on saturday..oops)

this is from a bob dylan/paul simon concert in dallas.  it was, i believe, spring of freshman year at baylor (1999) and i am with katie.  katie was a close friend starting that semester and then she was a roommate beginning junior year and finishing through college.  you can check our her amazing blog here.  i remember asking quite a few people to go along with us and katie was the only taker (which ended up perfect, as i really enjoyed our time together).  we definitely got offered weed by the guy in front of us (who was our parents age...like most others at the concert).  by the way, we did not accept :)  anyhow, it was a lovely night spent on the lawn of the concert venue...such care free days back then...now we are both busy moms and loving most every minute of that.

medical school graduation week in pictures

what a wonderful (busy) week it was in east tennessee.  charlie is now Dr. Hastings and i could not be prouder.  our life has changed so much since we first moved to harrogate and embarked on these last 4 years.  we are the parents to 2 beautiful boys and i think that, plus med school has put some well-earned lines on each of our faces.  none the less, we are so blessed and so excited to be moving into the residency portion of charlie's training.  i love you babe and think you have shown such perseverance and calm in the midst of this all.  i also love our family and all the support they have given us, which is so evident by them all being there to mark this very special occasion.

Mother's Day 2011

we had a beautiful mother's day this year and so fun now to be blessed with 2 children!  also, we were able to spend it with my mom which was wonderful, because she is wonderful!  we missed our other wonderful moms (my mothers-in-law) who are so good to us and so good to our babies.  i woke up to a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, strawberries, and chocolate milk (made by charlie) that was delish.  there was also a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my mom's yard including roses, gardenias, and peonies (she has been busy this spring) that charlie and smith had gone out early and picked for me.    all of us went to church together and then we came home and charlie and i got busy on a lunch to honor my mom.  we just relaxed the rest of the day and enjoyed being together.

i hope that i am living up to the example that my mom set for me and that i know my sitti (grandmother) set for her.  she is unconditional with her love and so, so giving of her talents and time!  smith and bode are precious and i cannot wait to know them as they grow and change.  smith is changing so fast and has such curiosity and expression and bode has been such a great addition with a gentle and relaxed spirit!  i love my boys and especially my husband who really knows how to love me and treat me amazing.....he is unreal in so many ways....i am very, very blessed.

boys' stats

we had a visit with the pediatrician yesterday for both boys.  wow, it was such a difference for smith compared to the last visit.  last time, he still was pretty shy and cool with the dr., but this time.....he let us all know in a big way that he was not fond of dr. prodding/poking or even getting near him.  we made it through however and here are their stats.



smith @ 17 mos.
height-2'9" = 80%
weight-28 lbs. = 80%
head circumference-19.5" = 80-85%



bode @ 2 weeks
height-22" = 90%
weight-11 lbs. = 95%
head circumference-85-90%

bode stats

this angel boy has had a great first 2 weeks.  he is quite laid back (except with diaper changes and food) and pretty content most of the time to watch the world happen.  he has his first doctor's visit next monday, so i will have updated stats then....but here are his birth percentages.

9 lb. 3 oz. = 90%
21 inches long = 89%

he is nursing great and only has the occasional preference for the left side...smith always wanted to eat from the left and fought me when feeding from the right side (wierd!).  he is turning his head to noises really well and is going only about 3 hours for each feeding at night (with the occasional 4 hour luxury).

we love him lots and are still seeing good things from smith's interaction with him.  smith likes to have him around and wants to touch him a lot (thankfully it is usually gentle).

flashback friday

today's flashback is dedicated to the first moments of smith and bode's life.  here is smith on the top and bode on the bottom.  i keep saying they do not look alike, but they sure do in this picture.  proud daddy...mama is knocked out somewhere after her c-sections :(

baby bode's early arrival

thursday, april 7th was like any other day (at first) except i felt a little 'off' when i was getting ready to leave for work. i had begun having what i though were braxton-hicks contractions on the tuesday evening before, but on thursday morning it was a bit more. charlie kept pushing me to time how far apart they were, but i am lazy and didn't do it. however, once i got in the car for my hour commute to work, i had nothing better to do than count contractions. at this point, they were 7 minutes apart, only in the front and down very low, and no back pain. so, i really thought they were not going to amount to anything. i did call the doctor's nurse that AM (after charlie made me) who agreed with me that they were nothing. i went about my day like normal, not noticing the contractions as much because i was up and moving with patients. however, after lunch i would lose my train of thought with my patients when a contraction would begin. i called the nurse back and we decided i would go to the hospital to be 'safe'. i finished work for the day (it was my last scheduled day of work before my c-section on the 13th) and then went to the hospital to get checked. i arrived there about 4:15 or so and completed all the necessary paperwork before they put me in the triage room to check everything. sure enough, i was dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced. the nurse told me i was staying (obviously) and i started making calls. charlie was already headed to amarillo from dalhart (where his rotation is this month) and my mom had smith at home.

i had a decision to make concerning the way bode was going to enter the world. i had already planned a c-section due to his size, but when my body went into labor on its own, i felt a VBAC may work. i so, so wanted to have a normal birth with this baby. sooooo, i labored it out...getting an epidural around 2 hours after i got to the hospital. by about 9:30 p.m. or so, i was all the way to a 10, fully effaced and with no pitocin. i thought we had it in the bag...i was going to have a VBAC and was so excited. then, it was push time. my nurse stopped letting me have any extra meds from the epidural, which was fine at first...but not later(read on). i pushed and pushed and started having increasing pain as the minutes ticked by. i kept telling the nurse the epidural had stopped working and i'm sure didn't believe me because she did nothing about it (not sure if she could have done anything at this point anyway). my pain was really excrutiating, not only from the contractions, but bode must have been right on my pubic bone because it was on fire!!! by the time I had pushed for two hours with basically no epidural, i told the nurse we needed the doctor in the room to assess why bode's head had not descended. when he came in, he said it hadn't moved much since the last time he checked (about an hour before). he then led me to the decision to go back for a c-section.

when the anesthesiologist came in to 'up' my epidural, I told him he really needed to do a spinal because the epi was not working anymore. he asked if I could wiggle my toes and I did a high kick off the bed .... hoping that would make obvious the lack of numbness in my lower body :). it did the trick because he decided on the spinal...which was awesome by the way.

all the drama ended and bode arrived on April 8 at 12:15 in the morning....thank goodness. AND, should the Lord bless us with a third child, this mama will NEVER think about trying for a vaginal delivery again (after my two failed attempts)....sign me up for my scheduled c-section with a spinal and versed :).

Following are some pictures from the hospital and return home. smith is thrilled to have bode along for the ride and is already so cute with him. i am recovering well and bode is great. I will post some stats and new baby info on bode soon.