Happy one-month birthday to this little guy!

So we had some family pictures done by the fabulous Mickie Winters ... this is one of many awesome pictures of John :) Ev was a pill but we managed to get some sweet family pics and ones of her + brother.

Click here to view gallery

In other news, John is a month old today and, although he seems to be going through some kind of growth spurt/sleep regression (aka he used to be a great day & night sleeper - now he is most definitely struggling with the night-time sleep ...), he's been a fantastic baby to have in our family (as if I could feel any differently).

Parenting two kids was sort of summed up for me with a moment we had today in the car - on our way home from music class + park (because Evie's favorite favorite thing to do these days is swing), John was screaming bloody-murder. Like, harder than he's cried in his life. Of course, a lot of this was due to the face that he was hungry and hot - my fault for not paying much attention to what he was wearing or to the clock to notice we needed to leave the park to get him home to nurse - but I digress. He's screaming, and so I have music playing loud so that I am a little distracted from it - and I hear this little voice behind my seat, "ja ja ... ja ja." I turn around and see Ev leaning as far as she can toward him, saying his name over and over in her sweet sweet little voice. And instead of feeling all stressed out about the crying, my heart just melted at her sweetness towards him.

 And I thought about how, at music class, she wasn't even participating in the goodbye song (her favorite favorite song) because she was leaning over John's carseat singing to him. And how when he cries, she says "mommy, milk!" And how when she wakes up in the morning, the first thing she asks for after mommy and daddy is for "baby" - and she doesn't stop asking until she sees him (which isn't the greatest thing all the time, like this morning when he was fast asleep until she barged in the room calling out for "baby?!"). And how now she knows that I pat his back to burp him - so she asks to pat his back as soon as she sees that he's finished nursing. SO. Having two kids is no joke, but man. It is awesome.

Happy birthday to John-John and happy one-month of big-sisterhood to Ev. One month in and we are loving it :)

John Bennett McLean: Birth Story

Yesterday we welcomed our sweet son into the world ... and, as if having a baby wasn't enough of an event itself, his birth turned out to be pretty dramatic. So here's the story (the long version. The short version is that we went into the hospital early Monday morning and he was born in the early afternoon very shortly after them breaking my water) ...

Baby boy was due Friday April 27. The entire pregnancy I had convinced myself that he'd be early or at least close to on-time. Turns out I was pretty wrong about that - so despite being 2 cm. dilated and 50% effaced way back in early April at my 36 week check-up - and progressing each week since then, every day that went by after the duedate, I found myself surprised that the baby was still very much enjoying his time in mama's body. On Friday the 4th, we thought I might have been leaking some fluid - so we went into the hospital just to make sure it wasn't amniotic fluid (it wasn't). We got to see the baby via ultrasound and learned that I was close to 6 cm. dilated at that point, and almost completely effaced. We knew it could be any day ...

Sunday, May 6, I had contractions off and on all day - and had a sense that my body was getting ready for something. We went to bed timing contractions - but none were very hard and they were pretty far apart. I woke up around 2:30 (Monday) with a couple of much harder contractions than I'd experienced so far. After a couple hours of watching and timing things, I woke up Steve, called my mom to tell her to start driving from Knoxville, and we headed to the hospital. Knowing how far along my body already was, we expected it to be a quick labor!

Checked in at the hospital - contractions getting somewhat harder and closer together - and was between 6-7 cm. dilated. Over the next few hours, labor picked up gradually, and it was great! When Evie was born, I was hopped up on the maximum dosage of pitocin due to my water breaking the night before but not going into active labor - and it made my contractions extremely intense without much of a break between them. This time was totally different. Once I breathed and relaxed through each contraction, I was (I think - Steve? Lauren?) totally normal between them and didn't have much discomfort between. Labor was really enjoyable :)

At some point in the morning, my doctor stopped by to let us know that she would break my water whenever I wanted her to, if we wanted to speed things up some. Based on Evie's and our mom's schedule, we figured having the baby while Ev was napping would be handy so that they both could be at the hospital and then she could come by afterwards - so we told the doctor that 1 pm would be a good time to break water if it hadn't happened on its own already.

As 1 pm approached, contractions had started to get longer, more intense, and closer together - but still pretty bearable - and, again, compared to labor with Evie, felt like a breeze with comparatively so much time between them! My doctor checked me a little after 1, said I was between 7-8 cm. dilated, and broke my water <Amendment - we found a couple things - photos, phone calls - that were time stamped. She didn't break my water until after 1:15, maybe even closer to 1:20 pm>. Not much came out at first, but with the next contraction and changing positions, more was released and my body started to get the message that something had changed.

Indeed it had :) I had maybe 3-6 contractions that were all strung together while I was still in the bed, and they were really intense, so we decided to get into the tub to wait out transition (the most awful, horrible part of labor). I made it into the tub just in time for another very intense series of contractions, which seemed to never, ever end. Lauren was a champ at helping me breathe through it - not sure I could have done this part without her! Just when it seemed to start to subside, Lauren stepped out and it was just me & Steve in the bathroom. Our friend Emily had gone to get a nurse to change the bed (since it had amniotic fluid all over it - gross), so they were out in the hallway ... when I felt the urge to push.

I didn't think much of it in the first second, because they always tell you - you'll go through transition, you'll feel an urge to push, and then you'll have to push the baby out. With Evie, that part took about 40 minutes. So I'm thinking, great, time to push. They'll help me out of the tub and I'll go to the bed to push - but I got about 5 milliseconds into that thought when I felt, well, I really really really needed to push - and I let out what apparently is a wail/scream that only a woman about to expel a baby makes. The nurse, still out in the hallway with Emily (because only about 10 seconds has passed), hears this and knows from experience what must be happening. She sprints in, says to me, "You are not having this baby in this tub" (and I'm thinking, of course not - I have to get in the bed) - "grab my hand." So I grab her hand as she instructs Steve to get into the tub to hold me up from behind - Lauren steps halfway into the tub to hold me up - and as I stand up, I scream, he's coming - and then ... he was born. I think the nurse told me to bear down a little, which I sort of did (but still not really believing that he was ready to come out) ... and then I looked down, and there was a baby in the nurse's hands. Oh my goodness - that moment. She handed the baby to me - and there we were, standing in a bloody bathtub, naked with my baby in my hands. Dazed, and I am sure looking quite zombie-ish, they guided me back to the bed, where lots of people were running in to help. He had let out a little whimper right after being born but hadn't made any other sounds, so of course I was scared and wondering when he was going to cry and let us know that he was a-okay...which, of course, happened shortly after we had gotten into the bed and people suctioned him and helped him along a little bit. After that it's mostly a blur of tears, stitches, baths, measurements (9 lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long), and pictures. The reality of what had just happened set in gradually and both terrified us and made us really thankful that God protected both his and my health during the whole ordeal. His birth time was about 1:39 pm - about 20 minutes after the doctor broke my water. Insane.

So far, John is a super sweet baby. He seems pretty content, is nursing well, and is already bringing us lots of joy. Evie has been by a few times to visit and is taking to him well. It helps to get a present every time she comes to the hospital ;) We can't wait to continue to grow as a family of four...we go home tomorrow, so I'm sure that will hold more adventures to share. Here are some pictures!

Upon arrival at the hospital. 

This is where it went down ... and this is after almost everything was cleaned up :)

I missed Ev all day! It was so good to see her :)

Meeting John for the first time :)

One day old!

Waiting

It has been a while (six months maybe?!) since I posted anything here. Oops. I am sitting at the doctor's office waiting on what is hopefully my final appointment before this baby boy is born (since today is his due date ...). We are really hoping to meet this little guy soon!!

While we are really excited to meet him and have two kids, we have really really been enjoying precious time with Evie lately. She is so full of personality and gives us so much joy every day. She is a smart kid who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go after it. She has figured out how to take off her pajamas and sleep sack (really special because this week she also took off her poopy diaper. Dad discovered her sans diaper in bed one morning and it was not pretty). She has lately decided that she likes jewelry, which is pretty cute. She has little habits and rituals that are pretty cute - like howling at dogs outside with dad, putting lotion of any kind on, cuddling with mom while watching lady and the tramp most afternoons (only for the last week, I promise), reading a million books before bedtime, putting her own shoes and socks (and often other clothes) on ...the list could go on and on. But before we start with tons of pics of the baby once he is born, here are some pics of Ev from the last few months :)


Helping dad with some planting yesterday




She wanted to wear her Halloween costume this week ....


And here she is showing off her jewelry and purse :)






We went to the zoo last week and she had a great time on the carousel and the proceeded to stick her whole self into a fountain. So she wore mom's sweatshirt home :)


Had a fun Easter with the Matthews clan... And loved meeting baby Lydia, Ev's newest cousin :)


Super fun visit with girlfriends from college here :)





And before that we went to Florida, since Steve had a conference there ...





Before that, Evie had a major obsession with sledding, even when there was no snow ...


So that brings you back a few months to see what we've been up to .... And now, we go back to waiting for Evie's brother to make his grand appearance :)

Catching Up

Hm. It has been a while. And more than a few people have asked me if we're going to continue with the blog. The intention was "yes" - the execution, a little less so. So we're back and catching up! A lot has happened since I last posted in mid-August - Evie has gotten stronger and stronger, celebrated her first birthday, been able to stand up for short moments by herself, and today even took one step by herself. We have had my sister & her family living with us for most of this month (her husband had his leg amputated last month - his story here: www.kevincowart.com) ... oh, and we found out we're expecting baby #2 in about 6 months (actually - six months from today is the semi-official due-date!). So that's put a bit of a hold on many parts of life, including the blog, for the last couple months :)

But ... here's the review of September and October so far ...

By early September, she had mastered the art of standing at the refrigerator (or anywhere else she could hold on) ... and apparently of getting out of pajamas, too. 

For Aunt Elizabeth's birthday, we went to Henry's Ark, our favorite local semi-gross mini-zoo.

 And spent lots of time with the Cowarts before they headed off to Nashville for Kev's surgery ...

 And we traveled down to Middlesboro, Kentucky, to see my dad's family & celebrate his sister's wedding. Evie had a lot of fun with Grandma Matthews.

 We had our moments of craziness ...

We went down to Nashville to visit the Cowarts there - here's our circus of a gang after having lunch with Kevin at the rehab facility.

 And then we came back - and got the Cowarts back to us too - and celebrated Evie's first birthday with super fun party with lots of family and friends. She had a blast!!

We got her a mini-piano, which she loved from the moment she saw it ...

And she got a stroller, which she and Audrey have been walking with like crazy (well, Audrey more so than Ev, because that girl is actually walking walking ... but check Evie out here!!) ...

Then it quickly turned into Halloween-week (which we're obviously still in the middle of). Here's a glimpse of Evie's costume from her music class party this past week. She loved it.

 And, as it happens, little babies start growing up and before we know it, we've taken the infant seat out of the car and replaced it with a convertible! For a couple days, it was a major novelty that her carseat was sitting in the kitchen, so she enjoyed playing in it ... until I realized that we have to use that thing in six months and I don't want her to break it :) So into storage it is, until we have this new kiddo to put in it!

And here's a funny video from just yesterday ... Evie the green-bean inhaler ...

 So that's our world these days. It's been a crazy but awesome fall so far!

Already?!

When Ev got her cast off, I was mentally prepared for a pretty long road of getting stronger before she hit milestones like crawling, pulling up, and standing. Turns out I have been very pleasantly surprised :) Every day for the last week or so, Ev has gotten noticeably stronger and able to do things with much more ease or has added new physical skills to her repertoire (a separate post will come sometime soon about the verbal skills, but suffice it to say that we know she really, really, really likes dogs).

But today we had major excitement when she was able to pull herself up to a standing position!! She did it earlier in the day on the dishwasher door, so I set up a couple cushions that were about the same height. Here she is!

Learning more every day ...

It has been 3 1/2 weeks and I can hardly remember her having the cast on. It should go without saying that we are really enjoying Evie being free from her cast - but the verdict was still out for a while because the sleeping was. so. bad. After a few she's-just-going-to-have-to-figure-it-out-nights of a lot of crying, things are on the upswing (finally) and we're getting longer stretches of sleep each night. Thank goodness - because to go from her sleeping 11-12 hours a night to 2-3 hours at a time was no fun. So now we're almost back to normal (only took almost a month!).

Every day, Evie's legs get stronger and she is able to move more and more like a kid her age should be. She crawls pretty normally sometimes - and other times still pulls her body along with her arms like she is in the cast. She is starting to crawl up and over things - pillows, mom and dad ... and also has figured out how to get off a mattress onto the floor without hurting herself (the mattress is on the floor, people, not on the bed. Ev is great but not that talented). In the last week, she has figured out how to sit up completely by herself, and can get from lying down to sitting up and vice versa. Just in the last 3-4 days she has been able to put most of her weight on her legs when we hold her up, which is great progress. Right after she got the cast off, her legs were like jello, and so it has taken quite a while for her to build up the muscles there.

We are in Knoxville visiting my parents right now, so here are some pics and videos from this week!

Obviously not the correct way to be in the float, but Ev thought it was fun anyway ... 

Just barely caught her waving at the camera ...

Sitting up in the bath!

We went to visit Granddaddy at work :)

And we went out on the boat. The life jacket was not Ev's favorite part of it :)

Putting weight on her legs ...

Perfect weekend with Grandma and Granddaddy!

Every baby's cuter with a 'stache

We had a surprise party for my friend Emily last weekend. The theme? Mustaches. 

Babies with mustaches = too funny not to share.

Ev's friend Tyson - he is 6 days older than her but is going grey already ;)

And Judah really, really, really did not like his 'stache.