Spontaneous Santa siting at the Y!

Greyson loves receiving compliments!

Nathan pushes Greyson in the baby walker

Nathan singing ABCs at 26 months

Life at the Crigler house has been busy!  Being a stay at home mom is harder, more overwhelming, and more fun than I expected.  It is both exhausting and exhilarating!  There are so many times when I stop and think, "this is it! this is why I'm staying at home. :-)" (Yes, I think with typed smiley faces...mostly because I'm under-slept.)  Here are a few examples from the past couple of weeks:

• Nathan told me: I love you right there! (and pointed to my forearm)
• When I walked in his room and flipped on the light after a nap, Nathan said: Mommy turned dark off.
• Greyson often stops to give me huge grins while breastfeeding!
• Nathan loves to read books with me!
• Nathan is learning to count and sing and he does both with an enthusiasm that makes my heart laugh.
• Greyson loves to watch his big brother and Nathan enjoys entertaining him (he's extremely thoughtful for a 2 year old and sweet to his little brother, videos to come).
• I think we all love various outings that we make to the YMCA, the library, the aquarium, baby bungalow, playgroups and other kid-centered activities.

Last weekend we had a family photo shoot and a few days later I went to a mommy/baby photo shoot.  We were planning on making birth announcements with the pictures but I've decided to just post them here.  If anyone wants prints made, please let me know which ones and what sizes and I will be happy to get them to you.  I plan on putting an order in on 11/7 so maybe you could let me know by then?

Nathan Counting at 25 months old... :)

Nathan updates

Nathan thinks he's hot stuff in a pull up and sunglasses!

Nathan is now almost 3 feet tall, weighs 30 pounds and has grown in so many other ways too!

He is learning his colors and enjoys counting even if the sequence is a little off.  He is starting to walk up and down the stairs without touching the wall.  He can push Greyson's stroller well with just a little help to steer.  He is trying so hard to jump but can't seem to get both feet off the ground yet.  He is still obsessed with cars, trucks, planes, trains, buses, etc.

We briefly started potty training a couple of weeks ago.  Nathan was really enjoying going pee pee on the potty but has now completely lost interest so we are back to diapers.  We'll wait a while and see when he seems interested again.

Greyson updates

 Greyson is almost 3 months old and I have been enjoying him so much!  Breastfeeding is going really well this time and I find that breast feeding support groups and socials really help.  Greyson holds his head up well most of the time and is always looking around wanting to see what's going on.  Nathan is so sweet to him, he often shows him his cars and loves to give him kisses! 

 Most of the time I think Greyson does not look very much like Nathan but at certain angles I see a similarity.  In this picture I'm comparing Greyson to a picture of Nathan on my phone.

The best advancement this month:  Greyson learned to smile!!!
I consider that to be mommy's reward for all her hard work!

Nathan's Birthday!

I can't believe our little boy turned 2!!!
Happy Birthday, Nathan!
We had a very casual party with some neighbors as I was not up to planning a big party for a bunch of 2-year-olds this year.

Ann and Julieann's visit

When Greyson was about 6 weeks old, Ann and Julieann came to visit us.  We swam in the pool at their hotel with Nathan, went to the library and the park, and just hung out and relaxed around the house.  

Ann made big pots of spaghetti sauce and vegetable soup that she froze for us to have for future meals. Yay!!!

Nathan was happy to have extra attention from all the adults around.

At six weeks, Nathan was starting to keep his eyes open for long periods of time. Here, I think he's saying "hi!" to Julieann.

"Grandmama, I'm gonna practice calling you on mommy's cell phone."

Nathan is enjoying the extra sugar from Julieann!

Nathan also starting saying "cheese!" for the camera which makes taking pictures a lot easier! Cheese!

These three men are the loves of my life!

The first 6 weeks of Greyson

I'm getting so behind in my blog!  We are trying to remember to take pictures but finding time to post them has been difficult.  I have a few minutes so here's a quick overview of the last 6 weeks:

Leaving the hospital with the most precious baby!

Welcome home Greyson!

Adjusting to life at home with 2 boys!

Greyson's first bath at home.

So far, Greyson does not love his baths the way Nathan did early on.

My mom stayed with us for 15 days while we were getting settled and having pediatrician appointments and lactation appointments.  Nathan was also adjusting to having a baby in the house and we are very lucky, so far, that he has been interested and excited about Greyson.  The first few weeks seemed to go by so fast!  Then my mom left and we had lots of family visiting every week.

Our new family of four!

Scott, Susan and Sarah came to town and brought dinner and my grandmother and Ed.  

The next weekend, my dad came to town.  My cousin Bill and his family were also in town visiting Bam Bam, so we all met up over at her place.

Getting 3 little ones to look at the camera AND smile at the same time may be impossible.  :-)

 

Britton had two weeks of paternity leave starting after my mom left.  One day we went to the aquarium.

They have an outdoor water play area!

Good thing we purchased annual passes so we can see these stings rays often!

Meet the family

Later on June 8th, my mom came to visit Greyson in the hospital and to bring Nathan home from daycare and take care of him.  Thanks grandma!

The next day was Saturday and my mom brought Nathan to visit us in the hospital where he got to meet his "baby budder" for the first time.  Nathan likes to skip over the "Grey" part and just call him "son" - adorable!

It was a pretty exhausting weekend so we napped whenever we could!

Warning: mildly graphic birth picture

Wow, has a whole month gone by?!  Okay, well I'm back to being a fairly well functioning person, considering I now have a tiny infant and a very active toddler.  I better jot down my second birth experience while I have a quiet moment...

I started having contractions on June 7th in the afternoon/evening and we finally went to the hospital on June 8th around 2:30 AM.  My friend/coworker Laurie, came to my house to spend the night and take Nathan to daycare in the morning.

By noon, I was still at 5 cm, and hadn't progressed at all since the wee hours of the morning.  To make a long story short:  the midwife on my case suggested pitocin to make my contractions longer and stronger to help me dilate.  I accepted.  Then the attending physician on my case came in about 20 minutes later and said that there was so much fluid in my uterus that the contractions would be ineffective in pushing the baby down to where he needed to be.  She recommended that she break my water.  I accepted.  Then the nurse told me that breaking the water ALSO makes the contractions longer and stronger.  Then I realized that my epidural was no longer providing any pain relief because it had been turned down after I passed out a few hours earlier and had not be turned back up.  Too bad the anesthesiologist was NOT AVAILABLE!  (Why did we do BOTH interventions, why didn't we check to see if the anesthesiologist was available BEFORE the interventions?!! - Next time...haha probably not!)  I went through an hour of AGONY while my contractions were looonnng and strooonnng (that's what we wanted, right?!) and successfully dilated my cervix from 5cm to 10 cm.  Finally it was time to push, my epidural was useless,  IV pain relief was administered and I was thrilled to get this thing over with and meet my sweet baby boy!

Britton delivered the baby but I think he was happy to also have the midwife there to deal with painful Lauren!  (The attending physician was called away to an emergency.)  I only pushed for about 15 minutes and I was so excited to get to watch it all again in the mirror.  This is a picture of the moment Greyson came out.

Some people might think that this picture is a little graphic, especially if the medical field is foreign to them.  I included this picture because I think this moment is beautiful!  What could be more amazing than a baby coming into the world?

As far as breathtaking moments go, the moments when each of my children came out of the birth canal were the most amazing, thrilling moments of my life.  It was AWESOME!

Welcome!:
Greyson McKenzie Crigler
June 8, 2012
1:35 pm
6 pounds, 3 ounces
19 inches

Give me that beautiful baby!

Wow!  We have another beautiful son!

High on life!

Greyson gets his first check up and bath.

Greyson gets snuggles from his daddy.

Hey family!  Nice to meet you1

Greyson adjusts to life outside the womb.

Love at first sight, all over again! I'm a VERY lucky woman!

Beach day!

On Sunday evening, Britton and I took Nathan down to Siesta Key to see the beach consistently rated as having the whitest and finest sand in the world.  The sand was like powder and Nathan enjoyed playing in it!

Nathan and Daddy doing crunches on the beach.  Abs of steel!

Nathan is adorable.

Nathan runs toward the water!

Our boy loves the beach.

Find a flaw, I dare you!