First Visitors

Grandma and Hannah

Hannah and Grandpa

Jonathan, the proud "big brudder"

Our new crew

Andrew showing off his new Super WHY! flyer from Hannah.

Grandma and Grandpa brought Andrew and Jonathan to the hospital to meet their new sister. The boys were very excited and kept fighting to hold her. If last night was any indication, Hannah is going to be loved to death by her big brothers.

I asked Jonathan what the baby's name was just to see what he'd say, and he looked at me with an ornery grin and answered, "Cinderella." Not sure where he came up with that name. Leave it to Jonathan.

Earlier in the day, Grandpa asked Andrew what he thought the baby's name would be and he said, "Flower." When asked why, he said, "Because she will be as pretty as a flower."

Introducing...

Hannah Elizabeth Julia Ayotte

Born: Thursday, Oct. 14, 1:54 pm

7lbs. 5 oz.
19-1/2 inches long

Proud Daddy!

Oh, dear. A little thumb sucker already.

Hannah and Mommy calling friends and family.

First bath. She was not a big fan of being cold and wet.

Hannah surprised us by deciding when she would like her birthday to be. We had a planned induction for today (Oct. 15) but Hannah already has a mind of her own and chose Oct. 14 instead. Keith was getting ready to leave for work and the boys were jumping around in the bed with me. Things didn't seem quite right and as I went to get out of bed, I quickly realized what was happening and yelled for Keith to grab me a towel as my water was breaking. Andrew caught on that something was happening and asked me if I was peeing in bed. Not exactly.

Keith told the boys to go downstairs and play and for once they listened the first time they were asked to do something. I'm guessing there was a certain tone in our voices that told them something was up. Keith brought me a phone and we started calling in reinforcements. My mom was at work and I called her to tell her what was going on. She immediately called dad and he jumped in the car and came to our rescue.

Fortunately, I wasn't contracting yet, so I had time to take a shower and pack. Yes, I said pack. It was on my list for the day. None of my babies have ever come early, and I didn't expect this time to be any different. So I procrastinated. I don't recommend it!

After dad got to the house and we gave him some quick tips, we left for the hospital. We arrived around 9:30 am and with a little help from my friends Pitocin and Epidural, we met our sweet baby girl at 1:54 pm.

And yes, Hannah does have two middle names. We had trouble deciding between Hannah and Julia and were still going back and forth on the way to the hospital. Shortly after I was settled in my delivery room, I noticed a Gideon Bible open on the side table. I asked Keith if he had been reading the Bible when I wasn't paying attention and he said no. He picked up the Bible and it was open to II Samuel. I said, "Do you know who Samuel's mother was?" "Hannah." And then we had our answer for what we should name our baby girl.

Calvin & Hobbes

Can you see what my children are reading, or rather studying like an instruction manual? Yes, it is Calvin and Hobbes comic books. Does this frighten us? More than we can say. Is Andrew obsessed with these books? To say yes is an understatement.

The other day he was explaining to me how Scout, his stuffed dog, can talk to him, but sometimes can't hear very well. I thought maybe Andrew's hearing issues were manifesting themselves through Scout, so I asked if Scout has trouble hearing mommy and daddy. I was given The Look, which he has mastered at age 5 and which I'm sure I will see throughout his teenage years, and then he patiently explained that Scout is like Hobbes and is only alive when Andrew is around.

Keith and I are coming to the scary conclusion that we are raising Calvin. Perhaps we should hide the Calvin and Hobbes books for awhile...

UPDATE:

Today Andrew came home from preschool with this little pumpkin guy. They are learning about pumpkins this week and today his teacher dug out the "yucky stuff with her hand and a spoon" to show the kids the inside of a pumpkin. Anyway, as soon as Andrew ran out of the classroom with his papers, he told me his pumpkin guy was named...Calvin. Of course. What else would it be named?!

Some pictures from September

As I am "nesting" and cleaning off the camera's memory card, I found these pictures that I failed to post in September...

Andrew feeling the baby move

Bedtime stories with Grandma and Grandpa. We loved this book from the library called "Clancy, the Courageous Cow."

An impromptu picnic with Jackson on the porch. Lunchables, the tired, pregnant mom's best friend at lunch!

There may have been more playing than eating occurring...

Fire Rescue Boat project

This past Saturday was build a Fire Rescue Boat project at Home Depot. The boys haven't been in awhile and when Keith saw the project, he wanted to take them. The problem was Jonathan was still pretty sick and contagious. So, we decided that Jonathan would stay home with me and Andrew would go to Home Depot with Keith. This has happened before and has never really affected Jonathan. But Saturday was different. He gets it now. And he DID NOT want to be left out.

It about killed Keith to leave him, but we really didn't have a choice. I told him to ask if he could bring an unfinished project home to a sad, sick boy. And they willingly gave him one. You would've thought he brought Jonathan a puppy. He hugged that block of wood and tried to read the directions. And he was so proud of the finished project and that he got to build it. We love Home Depot projects. Now if I just knew where to store all of them...

Jonathan - the Ornery One

This child named Jonathan has got to be the orneriest kid around. He just oozes trouble and can't stop himself from looking for it. As soon as he is caught, he looks up at you with those chocolate brown eyes through his long lashes with a little smirk, as if to say, "You wouldn't dare punish me. I'm too cute."

He asks "Why" at least a thousand times a day. And he's developed a bit of smart mouth at the tender age of 2:

me - "Jonathan, why is your shirt all wet?"

Jonathan - "Because it is."

me - "Jonathan, why are you doing that?" (that -being anything he shouldn't be doing.)

Jonathan - "'Cause it's my job."

But early Friday morning, he gave us quite a scare. We've all had the sniffles, but I just chalked it up to the changing seasons and allergies. We noticed Jonathan seemed out of breath Thursday night after running around outside, but tried not to make a big deal out of it. Around 3 am, I heard this awful coughing sound and went to check on him. He was laying in bed, wheezing and sounding as if he couldn't catch his breath.

I woke Keith up and had him listen to Jonathan to see if I was having a pregnancy over-reaction. I wasn't. Keith agreed that he sounded TERRIBLE. By this time Jonathan is fully awake and talking and asking me to sleep with him. Selfishly I was afraid to sleep with him and share his germs. So I held him for awhile instead, and he talked the.whole.time. But in between each sentence he would wheeze and sort of gasp for air. We quickly decided a trip to the ER was in order. We didn't know what we were dealing with.

So, Jonathan and I went to the mini-ER down the street. We were their only patient that early Friday morning and received wonderful care. Jonathan was quickly diagnosed with croup, which I didn't know existed any more. Most children just get a bad cough, that sounds like a seal barking, but some, like Jonathan, suffer from a constricted airway. So, after some steroids and a popsicle, we were sent home and back to bed we all went.

I'm convinced that we all have croup now, but we are able to manage it and cough up the junk. And Jonathan is feeling much better. He has two more days of steroids, which seem to have upped the orneriness factor. But I'll take ornery over wheezing sick boy any day!

Baby Belly

36 weeks

34.5 weeks

Andrew at 36 weeeks

Jonathan at 37 weeks

Here are some pictures to prove that I am indeed pregnant. Everyone keeps telling me that I'm small and hardly showing, but after looking at past photos of the boys, it is clear that everyone is lying to me! I'm pretty sure I'm at my biggest with 2.5 weeks to go. I see the doctor tomorrow and I think I might resort to begging to be induced sooner rather than later. Sleep, how I miss thee!