Our Little Guy is so Serious!

Boston's first "real" bath - he really did enjoy it but this picture looks like he is thinking "help me daddy!" Not looking too pleased, but I think he just didn't know what to make of it!Boston has a "fussy" time every night from about 8-10 pm. He has HORRIBLE stomach pains (as much as we can guess) and passes gas and gets stiff and screams. There is very little we can do to console him. He is not a happy camper during this time - then, at about 10 he settles down and after a final feeding, goes to sleep for 5 hours! Poor little guy is exhauasted!A wave of pain hits and then he starts crying again.

Goodbyes

Last week my sister, Chery, came to visit for a week from BYU. We had a lot of fun hanging out with most of the family around (we were only missing my little brother, Allen, who is still in Utah). The end of the week was very sad though because my brother, Aaron, and his family had to go back home to California and Chery had to return to Utah. It is now very quiet around my parent's house. Stephen especially misses being able to play with Anna when we go over to visit Grandma and Grandpa!

Jeremiah and Boston, saying goodbye to each other.I love horizontal stripes on babies - it makes them look so rolly polly and cuddley...okay, maybe these two are just naturally rolly polly!


This is Stephen, Chery, and Anna saying goodbye.

A New Hair Cut

On the spur of the moment we decided to give Stephen a hair cut just like daddy's. I took the clippers - put on the "number one" and shaved his head! Scott couldn't believe I went through with it and I have to admit that it was a little traumatizing. Stephen is thrilled with it and after a few days of adjusting I am used to it and like not having to comb his hair. (He has stiff, wirey hair and it is a pain to comb!) We also love rubbing his head and looking at his big beautiful blue eyes which stand out even more now! Okay, let's be honest - he could have any hair cut and I would think he was the most adorable little boy!

Grandpa's Tractors

We went to Grandpa Smith's work place to see "his tractors." Stephen was in HEAVEN! He got to ride in the backhoe, "drive" the lawn mower and just get up close and personal with the big machines! He and his cousins Talan and Atley had a blast.

Yes, that is Scott holding Stephen and Atley up in the scoop as Grandpa drives around...Scott had a lot of fun too!

Jeremiah

My sister-in-law, Rebecca, had her baby 6 days after Boston was born. He came on his due date - April 10th at 6:30 am. He weighed 8lbs 7oz and they named him Jeremiah Aaron Quist. He is a cutie and we are so excited to have a cousin so close in age for Boston to play with! These pictures are not the best in the world but you can see the cute babies and our little families.

Finally! More Boston

Obviously we have been very busy around here taking care of Boston and Stephen...it doesn't leave much time for blogging!

Here's how it all went down...

When we got to the hospital for the scheduled c-section the doctor ordered another ultrasound to see where the baby's back was positioned - she said if his back was down low she would have to make a vertical incision (horror!) instead of the preferred horizontal (which I already have). Apparently, Boston is going to be quite the jokester because somehow between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon he had managed to flip back over and his head was down again! He is quite the acrobat. So, instead of removing the IV and going home to wait to go into labor I decided to stay and have the c-section - who is to say that he wouldn't have flipped back the wrong way again...and then there was the size to consider... the doctor agreed that it would be best to proceed as planned.

Everything went very well in the surgery. It is the strangest feeling to be awake and know that you are cut wide open - you can feel a whole lot of tugging and pulling. And, I really don't like the feeling of getting the spinal block. It is a nasty, weird sort of pain... It was funny because the whole time I was laying there waiting for them to pull him out Scott was sneeking peeks around the sheet and then looking at me and saying that I was doing a good job! I am not sure I had a lot to do with it, but after a short time there Boston was!! The doctor's comment was "that would have been one heck of a VBAC!" which made me glad that we stuck with the c-section. He weighed in at 9 lbs and was 21 3/4 inches long. My first thought was that he looked exactly like Stephen did when he was born.

Baby Boston had low blood sugar so they had to put an IV in his hand for a day until he was able to regulate his own blood sugar. Apparently this happens a lot with big babies. Luckily, we had some awesome nurses to care for me and Boston and we were able to come home after only 2 nights. It was much quicker than when I came home with Stephen but this time Scott was going home each night to be with Stephen and I wanted to get home soon so that we could all get back into some kind of a routine.

Since we have been home it has been busy but not too sleepless. (I hesitate to say that - he has been sleeping 4 or 5 hour stretches at night and I don't want to jinx myself). Stephen loves his little brother and while he is not extremely interested in him, he does like to hold his hand when we ride in the car and give him hugs and kisses. The hardest part about having a c-section is not being able to deal with Stephen when he has a fit and needs to be removed to "time-out" or not being able to help him in the bathroom. I am feeling better and better every day and am able to do more - I have to remind myself to take it easy so that I don't do too much and hurt myself.

We have been so blessed through the whole experience and I can see the hand of the Lord in so many aspects of our lives. I love my two sweet beautiful boys and I am so thankful for them. There have been many angels helping out - the doctors and nurses, our families who have been so much help, and my sweet, wonderful, indestructable husband! I know that the Lord answers prayers and loves me and knows what is best for me.

Boston Aaron Smith

April 4th 2009

2:28 pm

9 pounds

21 3/4 inches

We are so glad to have our healthy baby Boston join our family. Steve absolutely loves his baby brother and begs "please please please please can I hold him".

WHAT is that lump???

The last few days I have been noticing this strange shaped lump moving back and forth across the top of my stomach - it is as hard as a rock...or a HEAD!!!

This morning I went in for my 39 week checkup and an ultrasound to check the baby's weight. The ultrasound tech was surprised to see my cervix so easily because usually the baby's HEAD is usually covering it...well MY baby decided that an April fool's joke would be in order and he flipped sideways some time during the past week! (How could I not feel that??) As of last Friday he was in the proper position and even as far along as I am he managed to turn over and get stuck half way!

To top it all off he weighs about 9lbs 12oz - give or take a few pounds - which is in the 97th percentile (FYI the tech said that 97 percent is the highest the computer goes - he was actually off the charts). She said his head and body measure at "42 weeks." So...OBVIOUSLY the whole VBAC thing is NOT going to happen! I am scheduled for a c-section tomorrow afternoon. While it is a disappointment to me that I won't ever get to experience vaginal child birth I am mostly relieved because the stress of making such a huge decision is off my shoulders.

All I could do was laugh and laugh as I lay on the ultrasound table. I think it was mostly pent up nerves (I had a break down last night - crying and crying... I want the baby to come - I don't want the baby to come, etc. etc.) I was just so shocked that he managed to turn like that and that he did it being so giant! No wonder my belly is huge! The other thing that was making me laugh was the ultrasound tech showed us that the baby has a lot of hair. She said you could see it "flowing in the fluids!" Hillarious - we thought it looked a little like a mullet! Stephen had a lot of dark hair sticking up all over his cute little head when he was born. I can't wait to see this little guy....

I hardly know what to do today - I want to have a clean house before I go tomorrow but how lame to spend my last day of "freedom" cleaning. Scott and I are both very excited and I have been trying to explain to Stephen that his brother is comming tomorrow. I can't wait!!!

A huge achievement!!

I am very proud of my little guy! After several weeks of hard work Stephen has been successful at filling up his potty training chart with stars and we got to go to "Chucky Cheese" (aka Peter Piper Pizza)! He could only get stars on his chart by staying "clean and dry" all day. There are 15 stars on the chart so this represents no small feat! He is doing really well still and now prefers to be "clean and dry." (When we first started the whole process I don't think he really cared!) He tells us when he needs to go to the bathroom 99 percent of the time and rarely has accidents any more! We invited my family, including Stephen's cousin Anna, to Peter Piper to help celebrate the occasion. We had a lot of fun!

Stephen and Anna loved riding in this little bus though their faces don't show it in this picture!

I often go walking...

but I don't think it does any good! I am still pregnant and inspite of daily walks and frequent shopping trips to the mall and Costco I don't feel like this baby is coming anytime soon! At my doctor appointment last week I hadn't made any real progress and he seemed quite confident that I would still be pregnant this Friday - which is proving to be accurate at this rate! I am not too desperate for labor to start just yet because I still feel like I have a million things I want to get done before the baby comes. I am also enjoying the last few days of "just the three of us."

Stephen woke up in the middle of the night crying and crying last night, which NEVER happens. He has always slept so well through the night and I was a little at a loss of what to do. I was also concerned because I can't have two babies waking up in the middle of the night or I might go insane!! He was crying for water and mommy and so I went down and gave him water and tucked him back in with his stuffed monkey. He was not sick or hot or cold and seemed content so I told him to go back to sleep and left. He cried a little more but after only 10 minutes or so he went back to sleep. My best guess as to what woke him up is that he had a bad dream about me and daddy not being there in the morning when he woke up. (We told him that might happen one day and that Grandma would be there). Poor little guy!

I think we are just about ready for our little addition to arrive so that we can begin the adjustments and move forward with our new life!