Davis Ambrose Gilcreast

I'll try to make this quick because I know not everyone likes a good birth story.  I am just so happy that this baby is here and part of our lives instead of still inside of me!  :)  And I am so thankful that he is perfect and healthy and that his birth went smoothly... so thank you to everyone who prayed for us!  

Davis's arrival was a lot like Reid's.. contractions for almost two days, took forever to dilate, but once things got going they went fast!  I started having regular contractions about 4AM on Monday morning but they slowed down every time I sat down throughout the day, so Phil and I didn't go to the hospital until about 7:30 that night.  I really didn't even want to go because I knew from experience with Reid that I probably wasn't ready yet, but since this was the 4th baby we decided to just go get me checked just in case.  And I was right... not even dilated yet.  So we went home.  I was able to get a decent amount of sleep that night because the contractions slowed to about one an hour or so.  

The next morning the contractions got pretty intense early on but then died down a little before lunchtime, so Phil decided to run into work for a little bit around noon. Well, of course, by the time I picked the boys up from school at noon and started fixing lunch (and making the blueberry muffins I was craving) I could barely even walk around the kitchen from the pain of the contractions!  They were coming pretty fast and really strong and here I was trying to get muffins in the oven and fix and serve lunch and I was almost dying!  So I texted Phil and he basically turned right around and came home again.  

We waited a little while longer at home just to make sure it was really "go time" and we finally left for the hospital about 3:30 P.M.  I was just praying that I was dilated and that I could have this baby and be DONE with this pregnancy!  So when the nurse checked me and said I was at least 6 cm dilated I just cried with relief and joy!  We got all settled in a room, then I got my epidural maybe an hour later, then laid there for a little while waiting for baby to come down a little more, and then about 6:30 it was "go time" for real!  

This was the first time I had a doctor deliver me instead of a midwife, and I was a little nervous about it, but God was looking out for us again and lo and behold the doctor on call was Dr. Wolf, one that I had seen several times in the office and liked and who had delivered my friend Michelle's two babies and she had just gushed about.  He was awesome (and is very good-looking by the way, which I guess is a good and bad thing, considering what he had to do for me... haha!).  

Once I started pushing Davis's heart rate dropped quite a bit and Dr. Wolf could feel that the umbilical cord was super tight around his neck.  So he told me I needed to push with everything I had to get this baby out quickly.  He used the vacuum on Davis's head, too, to get him out faster.  Once his head was out Dr. Wolf told me that he was going to cut the cord from around Davis's neck and that I would have to push with all my might again to get him out super fast since the cord wouldn't be attached anymore.  So then I was freaking out a little and I pushed as hard as I could and at 6:50 P.M. Davis was born!  At first he wasn't making any noise and had to be put right on the warmer and given some oxygen and then I was really freaking out!  But the nurses and Dr. Wolf all assured us that he looked great and he would be fine and a few seconds after he was put on the warmer he started crying and turning a nice pink color.  :)  Phew!  We were so thankful and relieved!  Apparently the umbilical cord was really short and had a big knot in it where it had kind of grown over on itself (Phil saw it and said it looked kind of like a tree trunk... ewww).  All of the nurses were kind of amazed by it and one of them actually tried to go dig it out of the trash because she wanted me and some of the other nurses to see it!  Ewww again!  Luckily she couldn't find it.  We were so, so thankful that D was born so quickly and easily and that he was all good and healthy considering the cord debacle.  

Sooo... introducing (drumroll, please).... Davis Ambrose (my maiden name) Gilcreast... 8 lbs, 6 oz; 20 inches long... the little caboose to our baby boy train.  Get ready for picture overload (and sorry to those of you who have already seen some of these on facebook)...

The boys visited us the next morning and were in and out like a whirlwind!  J and E were very excited, but Reid was walking to the door and saying "Ready to go!  C'mon! C'mon!" about 2 minutes after they go there!  :)

Emmett's teacher said that he must have said like 15 times at school that day to various people, "My mom just had a baby!!!"  :)

Zonked out sleeping after getting in a good feeding...

He had super long fingers and toes when he was born but I think he's growing into them a little bit...

Chilled out and ready for a sponge bath...

And just a couple pics of happy big brothers with their coloring books from Grandy and Popeye...

An Apology to Baby and Some "Likes"

Sorry, Baby.

I know all of your brothers got nice, well-thought-out nurseries that Mommy put a lot of time and love into making look nice, but you're going to have to settle for living your first eight-ish months of life in this space..

Of course we will put bedding in the crib and remove your oldest brother's little nap spot from the floor, but you're going to have to live with the bare walls and sheet covering the window and stacked up Ikea couch and the one lone bling-y lamp in the house that Mommy doesn't have a match to. (I'm weird in that I like all my lamps to have a mate).  Maybe this is your penance for taking your sweet, sweet time to exit the womb and giving Mommy some crazy scary-looking and painful right-leg veins.  :)

We did manage to make room for my favorite comfy nursing chair... although I'm sure I will never be in here just calmly nursing with crazy-pants Reid running loose all over the house.  But it was a nice thought.

In unrelated news, we were all sitting down eating lunch today and discussing some of our favorite things.  The boys were eating tortilla chips and the conversation turned to guessing which chips were their favorites.  Phil correctly guessed "potato chips" for J and "Cheetos!!" for E.  Then they asked us to guess what other things they liked... and Phil correctly guessed "Angry Birds" for J and "trains" for E after he gave us the clue of "they huff on a track," even though we didn't need a clue.  :)  Then Phil asked, "What does Mommy like?" to which they responded:

J:  "SHOES!"
E:  "GRIRL SHOWS!" (he says "girl" like "grirl")

And then I asked, "What does Daddy like?" to which J responded:  "DOING JOBS!"

So apparently Phil is the only one who "does jobs" around here and I sit around all day watching girl TV shows and trying on shoes.  Nice.  :)

Random Sweetness

Reid loves to feel like a big boy and do things "himself".  One of his most-uttered phrases is "I DEEEED IT!"... meaning, "I did it!  Myself!"  This is usually in reference to taking off his clothes, or climbing up on something, or putting on shoes... like these Angry Bird slippers (that are actually J's)...

The other day when we got home from taking J and E to school I was switching the laundry around (seriously we had been in the house for like less than 2 minutes!) when I heard, "I DEEEED IT!" and immediately searched for Reid to see what he had gotten into.  Well, this time, his "I did it" referred to styling his own hair with the hair gel I use on the boys in the mornings...

He was so proud that I couldn't be mad.  And those big brown eyes... Oh!

He is still a two-finger sucker, and he always rubs his right ear while he sucks his fingers.  Melts my heart.

A triple-playdough-playdate at the condo...

More shirtless-Reid yumminess with his favorite Christmas present...

And this little boy is getting so big I can barely call him a little boy anymore.  He melts my heart, too...

Reid was a little upset here that his ice cream was all gone... although we could have filled the bowl again with all that was left on his body...

Just couldn't stay awake on one of the last days of driving from the beach to pick the big boys up from school...

I've been trying to give Reid some "room time" lately where I basically shut him in his room (with the doorknob safety lock on) to play by himself for a little bit while I take a shower... since he's so mischievous all the time this seems to be safer than letting him run loose around the house.  Sometimes he gets upset at first but then actually does start playing with toys after a few minutes, which is something he usually doesn't do when he's loose.  Well, the first time I did this I got out of the shower and went to check on him and saw this...

My plan had backfired!  Little stinker!  It wasn't even close to naptime and I just knew he wouldn't nap later if I let him keep sleeping so I woke him up and luckily he did take a regular nap later.

These two little boys are just the best of buddies.  It is so sweet to see and hear the love they have for each other.  Although I do wish they would have just a little more patience with Reid... but I was a big sister and I can understand their frustration.  I keep telling Reid that I have a little best buddy for him on the way soon! Here J and E are snuggling together after naps...

... and they love to play computer games together.  They take turns and really help each other.  When I saw them standing like this one time I just had to capture it...

And lastly, this is a really cheesy video, but it is just so cute of Reid.  If you feel like sitting through it please excuse my congested, sing-songy, cheeseball voice.  I was trying to capture Reid's voice at this age and some of the cute little things that he says.  I also really like to hear the boys saying, "I love you" when they're little.  And "Ugga-Mugga" is a phrase from one of our fave TV shows, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" and usually Reid says it really clearly and it's so cute!  Anyway, the video's not very exciting, but it's one of my favorites and I've watched it like 10 times already.  :)   

IMG 1750 from Heather G on Vimeo.

Christmas and New Year's 2012

We had a really great Christmas and New Year's this year!  It was wonderful to be with family.  :)  Here are the holidays in a nutshell...

We went to Bass Pro Shops to try to visit Santa, but the line was crazy long so we just played on some expensive all-terrain vehicles instead... pretending we were the Duck Dynasty family...  

... and then we left and went a little closer to home to see Santa.  And had some good snuggle time while we waited.  J and E kept asking for hugging pictures and we were only too happy to oblige...

Reid wouldn't sit with Santa at all, but J and E did this year!  They even told him what they wanted, although J tried to explain that he wanted the Angry Birds game that you have to pay for on the iPad and Santa didn't really get that... and clueless Mommy just stood there and didn't explain to Santa what it was, so J thought Santa wasn't going to pull through and got a little frustrated.  The picture we have that we paid for from the actual Santa place is priceless... J looks totally annoyed and we threw Reid in there and he's terrified.  Definitely a keeper, but our scanner is packed up in a box so you'll just have to imagine it.  :)

The boys had their Christmas music program at school... Emmett did great and sang the whole time and Jackson just stood there without doing any motions or singing at all!  At least he behaved, though.  He just doesn't like to perform, I guess, because he will sing at the top of his lungs at home.  Phil and I have heard "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" about 562 times since Thanksgiving.  Oh, and we bought a new little video camera so we have some good video of their performance but not a lot of pictures.  But I didn't want to bore everyone with the video that only Phil and I would appreciate.  :)

Right before Christmas we went to my parents' house for the holiday weekend and played with cousins...

...and we went to a model train show that the boys were just entranced by...

 

...and then it was Christmas Eve and we took pics in matching pajamas and set out cookies and milk for Santa (and sprinkled "reindeer food" that Emmett made in school in the yard - so cute!)...

...and we had a wonderful Christmas morning with all of our family.  Again, we got a lot of precious, priceless videos but not so many pictures this year.  J and E were so happy and thankful and excited this year... it was so great!  And they really understand the Christmas story now, which is wonderful, too.  I just loved hearing them tell me the story of Jesus's birth in their own words.

We were only able to stay in Ocala until the day after Christmas since Phil had to go back to work, but he had quite a few days off around New Year's, so we got to spend some quality family time together at home. Here are the boys sporting their matching Superman tees (Dad has one, too) that they are obsessed with.  This was right before we tried to go family bike-riding, which turned out to be a no-go since it was FREEZING (well, freezing for Florida, that is)!

We spent a few minutes riding around the parking lot before we couldn't take the wind any longer.
It was a nice idea, though.

This is a really dark, awful pic but it's the only one I had so I'm posting it anyway.  On New Year's Eve Phil and I had a wonderful dinner with our good friends Blood and Kelly.  Blood was our squadron commander in the 95th Fighter Squadron the last time we were stationed here, and we both happen to be back here again at the same time.  We just love them and have such a good time together and were so happy to be able to spend the holiday with them.  Blood retired from the AF a few months ago and is training to fly with Fed Ex right now, so they'll be moving in a few months. :(  Kelly has graciously offered to stay with the boys when I go into labor, and what a total blessing and relief that is! This was such a fun dinner!  B and K's two college-age daughters stayed with the boys so we could enjoy a night out.  It was great!

New Year's Day was just gorgeous.  I have to say that we had been a little jealous of all of the snow we missed back in Oregon this year (they got a TON!) but you just can't beat spending two hours at the beach on a warm, sunny New Year's Day.