Life Lessons

As we get older, I encounter situations where I think I should have known better - I call these situations life lessons. For example, life lesson - don't put too much oil in the lawn mower, or life lesson - don't put the stems of collard greens in the garbage disposal. Well, this weekend we had a big life lesson as parents. DON'T leave a two year old unattended on the toilet.

Christopher likes to avoid nap time and bedtime by saying he needs to go potty. So, we usually let him go potty, but don't stay in the bathroom with him so he doesn't get our attention. Normally, we are right outside the door monitoring. Well, this weekend we were out of site and out of hearing range of Christopher on the potty. When Mike went to check on him he was sitting on the potty, with his sleeves rolled up and a wet hand in his mouth. He said to Daddy, water as he sucked the water off of his hand. Daddy asked where did the water come from - Christopher showed him how he was sticking his hands underneath him into the toilet and scooping water out to DRINK IT!!! OMG! Luckily, he had not gone to the bathroom.

One day I will use this picture and story to humiliate Christopher :)

Mikayla Two Months

Mikayla had her two month check up, which included three shots - not fun, but everything else was great. She is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight - no surprise so was Christopher. She is 13.5 lbs and 24 inches long. It's going by too fast!

Not going to miss a thing

I have noticed one big difference between Chrisotpher and Mikayla. Christopher was a snugglebug - always wanting to be curled up on our chest. Mikayla likes to see what's going on. She prefers to be sitting facing out, when you walk with her she likes to keep her head up and look around and when she is laying down she is always moving her head back and forth to see what's up. This is a picture of her hanging out with us at the dinner table. She fell asleep trying to keep up with her big brother.

When do we get curls?

I have been waiting impatiently for Mikaylas's hair to start to curl and I have even been looking at old pictures of Christopher to see when his started to curl.

Christopher 1 month

Christopher 2 months

Christopher 3 months

So it looks like I'll have to wait until she is around 3 months for the curls to stay, but here is a preview of what they may look like.

Dad's last day in a suit ...

Great news, Mike is finally no longer an associate at a law firm. We had to document his last day in a suit. He starts today at Manpower as a Corporate Counsel associate. And of course Christopher couldn't resist a picture too.

Overdue pics of Christmas ...

Adventures at bedtime

Mikayla One Month

Belated pics ... Mikayla's Birth

I love my little sister

I'm so impressed with Christopher as a big brother. He is so gentle and loving with his sister. He loves to hold her all by himself and he always has to tell her good night and good bye in the mornings. He is already so protective of her too.

One day when I was picking him up from daycare I had to leave Mikayla out of the room when I went in to get Christopher. Well, one of Christopher's friends saw Mikayla and was looking at her. Christopher saw this and bolted to his sister and started telling his friend, "No, mine, my sister." He got so upset he was pulling the carrier by the handle away from his friend. It was soo cute and the first time I've seen Christopher not wanting to share with anyone.

Big Brother

And so it begins - Christopher is already learning the joy of having a sibling in the house. The first night home with Mikayla, Dad was reading Christopher his bed time story and the corner of the book had been chewed up. Dad asked Christopher what happened to his book and he told his Dad Mikayla did it.

Introducing Mikayla James

Mikayla James Redding, born November 26th at about 1 p.m. 7 lbs, 14 ozs, 20 inches long.

I'm so excited that Mikayla is finally here. It seems like I was pregnant forever, but she was well worth the wait. The delivery went well and fast. I was scheduled for an elective induction and they started the drugs at about 8 a.m. when I was 4 cm. Well, Christopher was born so fast for a first baby - about 6 hours - that I thought that Mikayla would be here in an hour or two. Well, at about each half hour the nurse would come and check me and there was no progress. At about 9 a.m. the doctor broke my water and I got my epidural. I thought surely I would start pushing by 10 a.m. Well, 10 a.m. rolled around and I was still 4 cm. Mike and I looked at each other and were wondering what we were going to do all day. We hadn't brought movies or anything because with Christopher it just happened so fast we had no time for that.

Well at around 11:00 a.m. I started to feel some pressure. So we called the nurse and she told me I was 6 cm and asked if I wanted some more epidural medicine and I said no. Well, at about 11:30 a.m. I could start to feel my toes tingle and I was able to really move my legs. I told Mike I thought my epidural was fading and that the pressure was getting a lot stronger like I needed to push. I didn't want to bug the nurse again so I just waited. Well, after about 15 minutes I decided to call her. And told her I thought the epidural was wearing off and if I could get more, she said we will see that I might be too far along. Sure enough by about noon her head was there. I had to wait about 20 minutes for the doctor to get there and I pushed for about 40 minutes and Mikayla was here right around 1 p.m.

I'm very thankful for such an uneventful delivery and a beautiful little girl - she already has her Dad wrapped around her finger.

Catching up ...

It's been a long time since I last posted and needless to say a lot has happened. I want to capture all the memories from the last two months so I'm going to work on catching up. Starting with a few weeks prior to Mikayla's arrival ... and the false alarm.

I was so worried about having to take Christopher with us to the hospital that I packed a Diego backpack full of snacks, new toys, new books and his portable DVD player with a new movie. It came in handy as I had a false alarm about 3 weeks prior to Mikayla's arrival.

Having a false alarm was always one of my biggest fears, especially since this is my second pregnancy. But, it did not help that each time I saw my doctor she kept telling me that this baby would be here early. Nothing like getting a 9 month, pregnant woman anxious. Especially, one like me. Christopher was great at the hospital and his backpack became a staple for each visit to the hospital once Mikayla arrived. He still loves his backpack today. One of my best investments to date.