Carrinton has arrived!!!

I have so much to share, and not enough time in the day to write about it! The biggest news of all is that Carrington Elizabeth DeEsch was born on Friday, October 29, 2010, at 8:30pm. She was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 21 inches long. Perfect, Perfect, Perfect!!!!

To backup a few days... On Wed., October 27th, Dr. Gorsuch announced that I was already 3cm dilated and we went ahead and scheduled the induction for Friday, Oct. 29th, but she said that there was over a 50% chance I wouldn't make it all the way to Friday. Well... my body and little Carrington had other plans and stayed put! :) My mom arrived on Wed. night, to be sure she wouldn't miss anything, and we spent all day Thursday shopping and walking! What most of you don't realize is that my brother is getting married on Nov. 13th, so there was a TON of stuff that still needed to be done (tuxedos, shoes, dresses, fittings, jewelry, gifts...). Amazingly, on Thursday, I managed to get Trey a tuxedo, a rehearsal dinner dress for myself, a few new clothes, and a handful of other misc. things. On Friday morning, we all showered, dressed and headed to the hospital at 7:30am to be induced.

Several months prior to this, my friend Melody had asked to photograph the birth. At first I said No, thinking it would be very boring for her, and the pictures would not be something I would love. I couldn't have been more wrong. Melody arrived at the hospital around 8am and documented the entire process. To be honest, the process was nothing special. I was given pitocin and NOTHING all day long- no dilating, barely any contracting, pretty much nothing UNTIL... I went to the bathroom at 5:45pm. As I was getting back into the bed, I felt a "pop" and as I sat down, my water broke. Let's just say I have never felt anything like this in my entire life! YUCK!!!! I never experienced this with Trey, so it was definitely a new sensation. Shortly thereafter, my contractions started coming a lot more closely and I had the epidural around 6:30pm.

At 8pm the nurse checked and said that I was still only about 7cm dilated and we still had lots of time. But, she said that if I felt the need to push, to call her. Well, the next contraction I had definitely felt like I wanted to push, but (not wanting to look stupid, and knowing I was only 7cm dilated) I didn't say anything. About 2 min. later I felt it again, and mentioned nonchalantly to my mom and Melody that it sort of felt that way. Doug and Trey had just left the room, and I didn't want to call the nurse quite yet. A few minutes later, I was sure- I really wanted to push. I called the nurse, she came in and verified it- I WAS READY!!! My mom was frantically calling Doug, and he immediately came back to the room and around 8:20-ish, with my Mom, Doug, Trey, and Melody all there to watch (and photograph), I started pushing!!!! Carrington (just like her big brother, Trey) came out quickly and smoothly with about 5 pushes total. She was officially documented as being born at 8:30pm, and she is the most beautiful little girl I have ever laid my eyes on. My mom cut the umbilical cord, the nurses weighed her, and all was right in our little world!

Several people have been shocked by a few things regarding this "birth story". The first was that they couldn't believe we kept Trey (at 19 months old) in the room for the delivery. It was important to Doug that he be there- as long as he wasn't scared or fussy- and he was an angel. I wouldn't have done it any other way, and it was extra special for us, as a family, to experience all of this together. I have been extra sensitive to Trey and I don't want him to feel that there is any reason we wouldn't want him to be with us, and this was just another example of that. The second thing was having a photographer in the room. I felt slightly uneasy before I actually experienced it, but it was wonderful having Melody there. She was great to work with, she blended in to the backround and didn't push us or make us feel uncomfortable. And when I saw the pictures later, I cried, they were so beautiful. We never would have been able to capture those moments on our own, and for that, I will forever be grateful that she was there!

Packing It All In!!!!

Well... Carrington's due date is Wed. Sept. 27th, so in the past week, we are trying to pack in playdates and Mommy/Son time, and as much fun as possible before his world changes! We have had playdates with Cousin Evan and Evan's mommy, Becky. We've playdated with neighborhood friends, we've baked cakes together, we spent an entire morning at the brand new Kids Discovery Place, and on today's rainy afternoon, we built forts and read lots and lots of books! We've also installed Carrington's carseat in the car, so Trey has been moved to a new location in the backseat! He is my precious baby and I am so lucky to have him!

Rhythm Like His Daddy :)

Last night Trey showed off his dancing skills, and although I've watched this many, many times, I still think that he got all his rythm from his Daddy. Any of you that have danced with Doug, or been on the sidelines of that TREAT, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!!! :)

I Love You!!!! This just melts my heart :)

A Typical Afternoon

EVERY DAY, as the clock approaches 4:00pm or later, Trey starts asking for "Dada" and checking the front door windows constantly. He simply cannot wait for Doug to get home! And as soon as Doug DOES get home, Trey sits down on the steps, and helps put his work boots away, and then takes Doug's dirty socks to the laundry room. I don't know how, why, or when this routine began, but it is precious to watch, and I finally had enough sense to get a short recording of the process :).

Last week we began letting Trey sleep with a pillow. He has wanted a pillow for a while now, whenever he is in our bedroom, and I know most pediatrician's recommend waiting until children are around 2 years old, or are transitioning to a toddler bed, but we started a little early. I am completely confident in Trey's ability to lift up his head if he is feeling "smothered", and the pillow is VERY flat- trust me! He gets so excited about his crib and it was a fun milestone to start :).

We visited a new park this week too- the Treadtown Park in Huntersville. This park is perfect for younger children and we had lots of fun! The last fun part to our week was getting to view the Maternity Pictures from our photo shoot with Melody... I added a few "peaks", but these definitely don't come close to how beautiful they all were! Melody with SnookySmiles Photography (button at the bottom of the blog) is WONDERFUL!

The Adventures of Trey!

It's been a busy 2 weeks around here! Football season is in full force, and I am SO GRATEFUL that the Redskins have had 2 wins in a row! Woohoo!!!! Trey and I had a fabulous playdate with the Hip Mama's at Mel's Mini Whinnies in Huntersville. There were kitty cats, bunnies, and mini horses- and the best part was, Trey could pet and love everything and I didn't have to worry about telling him NO! :) Trey loves animals (especially cats), but he prefers all of them on his own terms. He loved petting the horses, walking next to the horses, and even making horsey sounds, but the SECOND I would put him on top of a horse, he would cry. We didn't push it, and he still had a great time.

Right after our trip to see the horses, Trey came down with a small stomach bug, and we had an eventful morning filled with Trey and I heading down to school, only to have him puke ALL OVER ME on our way into his classroom. That was a ton of fun, especially considering the fact that we live 30 minutes from his school, and I have an extremely sensitive stomach, which in turn caused me to start gagging and other things... Luckily this only lasted about 24 hours and he was back to his fun self again!

We also did Maternity photos for Carrington last week!!! They went wonderfully, and Trey was a GREAT picture taker, and did everything we asked and smiled on cue. I was so impressed and happy with the way everything turned out. It helped a lot that Trey is in love with my belly so asking him to "kiss Mama's belly" or "touch your belly" was an easy task for him to follow through on!

Another fun part of our week was staging our own photo session with Cousin Allie! We had to change the location at the last minute, but the pictures still came out beautiful. Their matching outfits were the most adorable things I've ever seen, and the pictures are so darn cute! Both kiddos were DONE taking pictures after about 45 minutes, but it was plenty of time to get some good snapshots :).

Other than that, life is moving along! We did get to attend Eddie's belated 2nd birthday party, where Trey and Eddie chased balloons and had lots of fun. I've been busy getting ready for Carrington to join our family, which mostly consists of me purchasing matching Brother/Sister outfits as often as possible, creating birth announcements, setting up photography sessions, and monogramming like crazy- ALL THINGS I LOVE!

We have been working on Trey's numbers and constantly count to 5. He can't form the words very well, but the TONE of the words is definitely there! Trey also loves to say "Uh-Oh" and is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen... the second the beginning music comes on the television, Trey immediately enters a trans and stays that way for the entire duration of the episode. I've never seen him so content for a solid 20 minutes before.

I almost forgot to share Trey's newest toys!!!! Last weekend, Doug did a major cleaning session in the house and Trey followed him around "helping" to clean. Ever since then, Trey cries and begs to play with the windex, swiffer dusters, brooms, and all other cleaning supplies. I finally got so tired of fighting with him about NOT being allowed to play with Clorox and Windex, that I made a trip to the dollar store where I purchased the following: a large blue cleaning bucket, a broom, a mop, 2 squirt bottles, a duster, and a dish soap sponge. He LOVES all of it and now spends hours going around the house "cleaning" for Mama and Dada. I wasn't sure how Doug would feel about the new toys, but he thought it was hilarious, and one of the best $7.00 I've ever spent! Everything in our home has a layer of water from the squirt bottles, but water never hurt anything, right? :)

Fall has Fallen on our Family! :)

My favorite time of year is FINALLY here!!!! There is so much I want to do, and I'm feeling the pressure to pack it all in before Carrington gets here, mostly because I'm afraid I'll miss these fun experiences with Trey if I wait too long. I know that's a silly way to think- especially because I won't be an invalid after Carrington arrives, but these moments with Trey are so precious, and I'm definitely feeling overly sentimental.

We've had a busy week- we had 2 playdates, one with Miss Ella, who is a brand new big sister now, and one with Ellie and Sammi (our photographer's little girls). Trey has gotten SO GREAT at sharing, and I'm so proud of him! While visiting with Ella, we even had a "moment" when I asked Trey to give Ella a kiss (I thought he would turn and kiss her arm), but NO... and they gave each other a full blown kiss on the LIPS!!!! I was shocked and (of course) snapped a picture at just the right moment. My baby is becoming a big boy :(.

Doug also surprised us on Thursday night and announced that he took off from work on Friday so we could have a family day at the zoo! Doug LOVES the zoo! Don't get me wrong, Trey and I also enjoy the zoo very much, but nothing compares to Doug's adoration of family day trips to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. We had a fantastic time, and Trey was so interested and involved in everything. I was most surprised at how much he ended up loving the penguins! This was by far Trey's most favorite part of the day, and it was hilarious to watch him point and run around trying to chase them. Trey also loved the choo-choo train and the carousel, neither of which is special for the zoo, but both are super fun regardless of where you're at! The next day we went to Dan Nicholas Park for the Autumn Jubilee! Trey painted his first pumpkin and played on their amazing playgrounds. I love this park- they have paddleboats, a carousel, a train, a petting zoo, a splashpad, huge playgrounds, massive picnic areas, and fishing! I could go on and on about all the things this park offers, AND the admission is free! The rides cost a small fee (for example, the train is $1), but it is extremely affordable and so fun!

Trey's "new" thing he is doing this week is saying "uh-oh" to everything. It's adorable, and I've tried multiple times to video record it, only to have Trey be a stinker, but I'll keep trying :). Have I mentioned before that Trey also has an obsession with his shoes and he will bring shoes to us to put on him all day long- he insists on wearing different shoes all the time, and throws a fit if we don't put whatever the "shoe of the moment" is on him! It's a crazy thing, and it's not uncommon to see us out in public with 2 different shoes on his feet. I'm sure this phase will pass, but it's definitely interesting! Within the last month, the other obsession has become "Yo Gabba Gabba". Trey is 100% enthralled and amazed with this show and will watch an entire episode in pure rapture! I've never seen him act like this before, and I'm shocked! Up until now, he has shown NO interest in the television at all, and to be honest, there is no other show that even remotely slows him down, but something about "Yo Gabba Gabba" does it for him! I know other parents have experienced this long before now, but apparently the television is something Trey has discovered late in life (well... if late in life is 18 months old)!

Enjoy the new pictures! This week we are riding ponies on Monday and we have Maternity Pictures on Wed!!!! SO FUN!!!!