I owe it to my lil Tan Man....

Well it has been two months since Tanner John came into our world, I have been horrible at keeping this blog, but have had the intentions to update it... So here goes.... Going back to February.... I was quite impatient being that Tristen was 16 days early, so I thought Tanner would come early too, well not really.... I went in for my checkup and was dialated to a 4 and my doctor thought it could be any moment and later they all tell me that they were surprised that it didnt happen that day, well I walked around and exercised my tush off to only go back the next Tuesday and I was a 5.... So my wonderful doctor said to me "Gretch, you ready to do this, I am ready...." Lets get you up there today if you want.... so he said I will just break your water.... you are so ready...So H and I ran home and grabbed a snack and gave kisses to my Tman and left him with Grandpa and ReeRee -- I checked in and Dr. Gibbens broke my water at 1pm -- the rest was pretty typical... I didnt need any drugs to get things going, I was contracting so quickly they couldnt have given me anything even if they wanted the nurse said, I got my epidural at like a 7 which was plenty of pain for me to experience and then I went from an 8 to a 10 in a matter of 10 minutes. I only pushed 20ish minutes and then Dr. Gibbens did something awesome.... He told me that I needed to just barely push and then I knew his head was out.... he told me, Ok I need you to lean forward and both hands (at this point I am thinking what the heck I thought I was done!) He said to me... Ok, grab him! He let me pull Tanner out.. I will never forget that, it was such an overwhelming moment that I could have never imagined... it was awesome! So Tanner was here at 4:59 pm on Feb. 21st still 6 days early! :) 7lbs 5oz and 20 inches... I knew right away that he was smaller than Tristen but he has sure change since then. He took to breastfeeding like a champ, was a little pig as they called him and he now at his 8 week checkup was at 12 lbs 3 oz. and 24 inches. I compared Tristens 2 mo checkup and Tanner is 2 inches longer and 1lb heavier! He has been such a good lil baby, really easy going and a lil snuggler, he likes to be held and at 8 weeks he really started to be engaged, smiles all the time and just locks you in with his eyes. He and Tristen have a lot of similarities in their looks at this age, Tanner just has darker hair, we wonder if he will turn blonde too? As far as our first little guy, what a trooper he has been, he has loved Tanner since the first time he saw him, he is very sweet with him and I can not wait till they are able to play together. Tristen of course is still 3 years old and can be a challenge in the listening department but overall he has done a great job adjusting. Hayden made sure that they got to do some special things together since Tanner is needing me so often, so that has helped. Hayden has been in season since January and I knew that it was going to be crazy with his travels and matches and having a newborn.... it hasnt been horrible, just definitley busy thats for sure, I guess its best just to jump right in, right! There is the update for now, I will work on keeping more up to date from now on....

37 Weeks....

Well here we are with less that three weeks from my due date... and if you ask me I dont think he is going to be staying in that long any way! My DR is coming back from vacation tomorrow evening and then I am basically ready whenever! If he follows the same pattern Tristen did he could be born as soon as late this week or weekend... I would be ok with that! The house is pretty much ready... it gets cleaned up and then it also easily gets to be a mess real quickly! We have had a wonderful winter leading up to this past weekend, we got a snowstorm that dropped 11 inches so I guess it was inevitable!

This is my last picture that was taken right before Tristen was born and then my current 37 week picture... Its hard to compare....

Christmas!

This year was so much fun, I think I enjoyed watching Tristen go through and get excited about Santa this year then any other year I can remember....We had a very busy December, we took Tristen to the zoo for a Winter Zoobilee when there was still snow on the ground and he got to ride the Polar Express... he loved it but then got so cold at the end and then it was no fun! Grandpa Marty came up for a visit to spend some time with us and then Grandpa and Ree Ree came up for Christmas.... we baked cookies, watched some Christmas videos and went to the Childrens Museum.... The New Year was spent with two other couples and their kids as a tradition we have done this for the past few years, the kids run around and play then Tristen goes to sleep and the adults get to play!

Lastly... I have been horrible at taking belly pics and updating the progress of the other little guy thats about to come into our family... I will be 33 weeks this weekend and its a little crazy to think I am getting so close.... the weather here has been so warm that I really cant believe its January! So I am still not technically due till Feb 26th but based on Tristens early arrival there is a chance that baby brother could be here by mid February... thats not too long from now.... So I am getting things organized and pulling all the baby stuff back out!

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This is just over 32 weeks....

Back tracking a few months!

October was filled with great fall weather, so..... trips to the zoo before it closed, the pumpkin patch, Tristens birthday and Halloween! Grandpa came up to finish a bedroom down in the basement and now Tristen and baby brother have a nice play room in the back of the basement! Here are a few slideshows to condense it all a bit...

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We had a very simple party for Tristen on his birthday, he had his two best buds from daycare come over for some pizza and cupcakes, Grandpa and Ree Ree came and our neighbors stopped by. He enjoyed it and we decided that next year it will be somewhere other than our house!

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Tristen at his 3 yr checkup...


This was our first stop on Halloween, the football stadium had all the departments handing out candy, Tristen really enjoyed it.


Part of the playroom, still work in progress and easily messed up as you can see!


His "other" costume... he was Thomas one day and then an elephant the next...


Just a random picture, Tristen got into the band-aids and came to me and said in a pathetic voice... I have a boo-boo... so he needed Scooby... HA!

Tristen is going to have a BABY BROTHER!

Well I had my ultrasound earlier this week and it confirmed what Hayden had said from day 1... BOY! I am not gonna lie and say that I wasnt a tiny bit sad that it wasnt a girl, it would have been cool to have one of each, but I pretty much had a feeling it was going to be a boy. I have always thought that I would be the one to have all boys and I am really excited for Tristen to have a little brother to play around with and a few years down the road I can only imagine the destruction they might get into!:) As my Dad said, well just another lil guy for Tristen to go out and pee in the grass with since he randomly does that! HA!

Overall we were really just focused on making sure that baby was healthy and all looked good no matter what the gender and that was confirmed.... its amazing to see all the testing that they do these days esp on the heart, I was able to see all four chambers of the heart, the valves.... its just so neat! So now we are trying to get some name options... we had our girl name and couldnt figure out a boy name but now that its set the countdown begins! Here are a couple of images of Peanut....





He was face down and didnt really want to roll over for a better 3D picture but it was still neat to see some more of his face.... Will he look like Tristen?

Haydens Moment

I am always telling little stories of times that I have had with Tristen or times that myself and Hayden have spent with Tristen, but this one comes from Hayden when I had already gone to work one morning.....

Hayden was still in bed and he heard Tristen get out of bed, close his door behind him and go into the potty and do everything himself... then Tristen tip toed into our room and quietly climbed onto the bed and then on top of Hayden who was laying on his back and then lied down on his chest and said to Hayden "I love you very much" What a way to start the day.... That just made my heart just melt.... as I am sure it did Haydens.

17 weeks

Had an appoinment today, all is good Peanut Perez is beating at 143 bpm. I have gained about 7 lbs and seem to be a bit bigger than with Tristen at this time.... 3 weeks and we will know whether Tristen is going to be a Big Brother to a Baby Sister or Brother, if you ask him he says he is having a baby sister.... :)