Arthur Henry Lee

Why yes, the last two posts on this blog WERE written almost two years ago! And they were about the birth of our second baby, who's now a spirited two-year-old. What can I say? I haven't had a ton of extra time on my hands recently. Ha!

But back to the story at hand. My pregnancy with Arthur was my hardest pregnancy so far. I experienced severe back pain throughout the pregnancy; it got so bad in the final months that some days, I couldn't even walk around the house. Thankfully my mom came to help out and arrived a few days before I was due, so she took care of Emerson and Jane while I tried to rest.

By the time his due date was approaching (March 15), I was reluctantly considering being induced, even though I'd been induced with both other kids and really wanted to go into labor on my own this time. I was also miserable and in SO much pain. We decided to schedule an induction with my OB for Sunday, March 20 (at 40 weeks, 5 days), but I was hoping that I'd go into labor before then.

Saturday, March 19 rolled around, and still no labor. I had made peace with being induced for a third time, but then my wish was granted around 9:00 p.m. that night, when my contractions started getting a little painful and very regular! From the time those painful contractions started until Arthur was born, I never went more than ten minutes without a contraction, usually less than four minutes. According to my handy dandy contraction timer app, things started to get more intense around 11:00 p.m., and by 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, we were headed to the hospital. Andrew had tried to go to sleep around 10:00, but I angrily woke him up at midnight, very upset that he was sleeping through my pain, haha.

After being checked in at the hospital, I was informed I was only at 4 cm (I have low pain tolerance, okay?! Ha), but I was admitted because I was clearly in labor (and in a lot of pain). My contractions were steadily getting more and more painful, and since I already knew I wanted an epidural, I requested one as soon as we got into our labor & delivery room. At this point we also discovered that we had the same wonderful labor & delivery nurse that we'd had when Jane was born two years ago!

By the time the anesthesiologist got there and administered the epidural, it was around 3:00 a.m., and I was dilated to 5 cm. I got some relief soon after, but it didn't take effect on my right side at all. After shifting around and upping the dosage, I was still feeling all the contractions on my right side, so the anesthesiologist came back and adjusted things, and it was finally working on both sides by 5:00 a.m.

I was dilated to 7 cm at this point, so we basically just needed to wait until I was fully dilated. My OB was getting in around 7:00 a.m., so we hoped he'd be able to be there. Our nurse dimmed the lights in the room, and Andrew and I were able to shut our eyes and rest until about 6:00, when I felt my water break. We called the nurse at 6:30, and she told me to call when I felt like pushing. (They don't like checking dilation after your water has broken because of infection risk.) I wasn't sure I'd feel the urge to push with the epidural, but around 7:00, I was definitely feeling pressure! So I called our nurse, she checked me, and she said something like, "Oh boy, the baby's right here! Let's see if Dr. Harder is here!" He walked in a few minutes later in his street clothes to check on me, then he left immediately to get washed up. As soon as he got back, I was ready to push. About two minutes later (five pushes), Arthur was born at 7:38 a.m.!

He had a perfectly round head (hooray for quick birthing) and was cute as could be. After I'd had some skin-to-skin time with Arthur, the nurse weighed him, and we were all surprised to see 9 lbs, 6 oz on the screen. The nurse even weighed him again just to be sure, but the second time we got 9 lbs, 7 oz! Our babies have been getting bigger and bigger - Emerson was 8 lbs, 3 oz; Jane was 8 lbs, 13 oz; and now Arthur at 9 lbs, 6 oz. Please don't let that be a real trend!

Grandma Stitt brought the kids by to visit later that day. Emerson's Dash costume was a big hit.

The big kids have loved their baby Arthur from the beginning!

Adjusting to three kids (who are each less than two years apart) has been an adventure, that's for sure. Arthur has been a really good sleeper from the start, so now that he's sleeping a solid 11-12 hours at night, survival during the day is a LOT easier.

At four and a half months, Arthur sleeps through the night, smiles and laughs, loves being held, and only really cries when he's hungry or tired. He has super soft peach fuzz on his big round head and almost no eyebrow hair to speak of. We love our happy Arthur boy!

life with two

In short, life with two kids is...hard. At least right now it is. They say it gets easier in a couple months; please tell me "they" are right!

The kids somehow always need something at exactly the same time, which usually means that Emerson is forced to be patient (a toddler being patient, haha) while I take care of Jane first. (Unless Emerson's need is immediate, like when he's about to fall off a chair or grab a knife or dump cereal milk all over the floor, in which case Jane sometimes has to cry for a few minutes while I take care of things. And that is always sad.) Plus Emerson is in the throes of toddlerhood (lots of tantrums and not listening), and Jane requires being held every waking moment.

It's also a lot of fun—seeing them start to interact with each other, having a beautiful baby to snuggle with, and being able to watch both of them grow and develop is incredible. We're certainly blessed!

Here's a quick catch-up of what we've all been up to for the past little while.

Jane

Jane was born on April 18 at 9:02 p.m. 

Not a newborn picture, just a cute one!

For the longer birth story, you can read my other post. Summary: labor lasted 6.5 hours from start (i.e., having my water broken) to finish, and pushing took roughly 1.5 minutes. Win!

She's a pretty long little bean, and she has the biggest, prettiest, most alert blue eyes.

She loves to smile and eat and suck her thumb.

She also loves to wiggle and roll around.

Jane is the spittiest baby ever. She spits up all day, on everything and everyone. (No one wants to see a picture of actual spit-up, so here's one of a cute spit bubble beard.)

But she's an incredibly good sleeper. She's slept over 12 hours for the past 3 nights (she's not quite 4 months old)! What??

She has a love-hate relationship with the pacifier. Emerson likes to help her with it.

She has a great surprised face (although it does look similar to her regular face).

And she's starting to like the Bumbo. Hooray!

Emerson

This little two-year-old is always on the move (hence the blurry pictures).

He still loves cooking and especially loves to "cook" with us at the kitchen counter.

Wearing Uncle Ryan's vintage sweater on a rainy July day.

He's talking up a storm, with some recent vocabulary including "Change you!" (change my diaper), "Whar-you?" (where are you), and "Help you!" (help me). Also, he somehow learned "Don't want to!" Ugh.

He loves bananas, milk, and broccoli. For real, the kid loves broccoli. I have no idea how it happened, but I'm not complaining.

Best of all, he loves his baby sister. He randomly comes over to give her the sweetest kisses and hugs (unfortunately I haven't caught a picture of that yet).

Instead, we have this gem. Don't worry; he wasn't actually smothering her.

He'll frequently lie down next to her, and it's pretty darn cute (but hard to get a picture of, obviously).

His favorite is getting to hold "Bebe," which usually lasts approximately 9 seconds.

He still loves Daddy and even tries to be like him.

He just moved into a big boy bed a couple weeks ago, and he's been handling it surprisingly well. He likes to sleep on his giant stuffed frog.

Yes, that says that it's 80 degrees in his room. Thanks, no air conditioning.

 He's a goofball, and we love him!

Mr. Potato Head glasses.

Everyone

We were able to travel to Utah for my family's reunion in July, and it was tons of fun. The actual reunion was fun, that is—driving there with an infant and a two-year-old was not fun. A 16-hour drive turned into 23+ hours EACH WAY. So much driving, so much crying, and so much chaos.

Emerson was definitely the easier of the two on the road.

In the end, it was all worth it! But we will definitely not be doing that drive again any time soon. Or ever. Definitely ever.

At the reunion, Emerson got to take a few rides in a four-wheeler and loved every minute of it.

Disclaimer: This is a reenactment. He didn't actually sit in the front seat by himself.

We played with cousins, went on hikes, did crafts, and made some great memories. (PS, thanks family for letting me use all your pictures.)

Campfire singing.

Emerson's GQ pose.

Emerson and Ryker.

Hangin' out with Grandma Stitt.

And Aunt Aubrey.

The boys folding their arms for the dinner prayer. The cutest.

Hiking with Grandma.

Getting a great view from Uncle Ryan's shoulders.

Aubrey carried Jane for the second half of our hike. 12 extra pounds of baby makes a big difference!

Incredible views all over the place.

It's been a fun summer!