I heart epidurals!

Yup, that means we finally have a baby. Brady William Morgan graced us with his prescence at 3:21 am on Monday morning. He measured in at 6 lbs 11 oz and 18 3/4 in. After the 9 hard months of pregnancy, he was kind enough to give me a short labor and delivery. I started having contractions Sunday morning and went to the hospital around 10 pm. Luckily, I was far enough along that I got my epidural fairly quickly and then things really started to move along. Epidurals are such a blessing for me and make things so much easier. After about an hour I sort of pushed twice and out he came. Obviously, he has a very full head of hair and surprisingly doesn't look that much Peyton (although he is starting to more and more.) It has taken a bit, but he is getting cuter all the time. Like a good little boy, he has taken to the boob quite well, so we will see if that keeps up. We are all still tired and recovering, but have LOTS of family around right now so we are getting help and have even had a few visitors. Thanks for all your well wishes and congrats. I'll try to keep a good update going and fill in more of the holes when I can see straight again!

For the most part, Peyton doeasn't really care that Brady is here, but this is him being cute with the baby at the hospital. Every now and then he will give him kisses and hugs.

This is a good comparison of Parker, Erica's son, and Brady. I don't know why Brady is trying to kiss Parker, but there is definitely a big difference between the two.

Ewww, the gross stage, but this is Brady fresh from the oven!

See here he is starting to look more like Peyton now that he is a few days older.

The Waiting Game

Well, it's Friday and I still have not had this baby. And unfortunately, I am not going to get any immediate relief from my current state either. Apparently, July is a very bad month to have a baby. The hospital is, again, all booked up and way behind as it is, so when am I scheduled? Wednesday at 6 am with a 5 am call in time. That means I have to be all ready to go by 5 but there is still a 50/50 chance I won't get to go in. Let's hope this baby decides to come on his own soon. I doubt I have that much luck, but it's worth a shot! Now is the painstaking time all pregnant women go through, waiting for signs of the coming child. Bad thing for me is I can't do a lot to distract myself. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to go shopping or see a movie, just something to get my mind off of it. Erica was nice enough to bring Parker out yesterday so I could watch him while she napped. That helped, but I realize she can't come out everyday. Things might even be better if I could eat my usually comforting foods, but that dang heartburn is keeping me on cold cereal, sandwiches, and slim fasts. Not exactly the food you go running to in a time of emotional need. Wow, that was quite whiny. Sorry, I am venting, which is just a nice way of saying I am complaining. Well it is now quite well documented how miserable I am feeling so I shouldn't need to commit to permanent existence any more complaints, I hope!

My Chelan-Man

Jesse has now completed his first triathlon. Well, technically it is a sprint triathlon which means the distances are a bit shorter (1/2 mile swim, 13.1 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run) but that was probably good since he didn't really get to train for it. I was sad I didn't get to see him do it, but he had his brother there doing it with him and I'm still really proud of him. Apparently, he loved it and now wants to do more. He'll probably stick with the sprints for a while since we can't afford a bike and he doesn't have a place to swim.

Now for the results. Like I said, he did it with his brother, Casey, and it took place in Chelan. There was about 100 men competing and he came in at 49 with an overall time of 01:32:10. His individual event times were 00:20:40 for the swim, 00:39:18 for the bike, and 00:29:25 for the run. Unfortunately, his knee was still bothering him so the run didn't go as well as he would have liked, but he was happy with the rest of his times, and bonus he beat his brother by about 8 min. Way to go honey!

I sent him with the camera, but you know boys, he only came back with a few photos. I suppose I should be happy he took any.

This is him and his brother before the race standing in front of all the bikes.

And the triumphant after photo, he came back with his hair still looking like that.

Get it out, get it out!

That is really becoming my new mantra. The amount of pain that this child is putting me in is crazy. Luckily, I was able to get into the doctor today so I could find out where I am at and talk about getting an induction. Unfortunately, I did not learn that I was in labor or super far along, but I am at 2 cm, 75% effaced, and the baby is at -1 station. She wasn't able to scrape the membranes because I have strep B this time, but she thought the exam might be enough to push me over...no luck so far. More bad news, I wasn't able to schedule my inducement yet because I actually have to reach 39 weeks before the hospital will let us. The doc doesn't think i will make it to next week, but if I'm still prego on Friday, I'm supposed to call in and schedule one. At least I know this kid will come out at some point, most likely within two weeks, but sitting around and waiting just sucks. We really should come with one of those pop up timers. Right now I am just trying to do what I can to start things up, without killing myself in the process. Think contracting thoughts!

Do you want fries with that?

The Offender!

Peyton has always been a lover of french fries, but last night he was in one of his particular moods, to put it delicately, and he refused to eat anything but them. An epic battle then ensued between P and most of the adults to get him to eat some dinner before he got more fries. Who would win? Would Peyton get another fry before he ate his hot dog? Well, if Mom had anything to do with it he would have. I swear she was restraining with all her might not to slip him one. In the end, there was no victor. No one earned the spoils. Even trying to trick him into eating a fry at the same time as the hot dog didn't work. Peyton ended up not eating another bite of fry or questionable bits of meat. This mega-level tantrum did make for a pretty pathetic site, and a camera moment Jesse just couldn't resist. Grandpa has declared this a fry free household for a while till P can learn to eat all the different things on his plate. I'm sure they will be missed.

This is where Dad and I tried to get him to eat a fry and hot dog bite at the same time, he promptly spit them both back out.

And now for my baby...

I have finally gotten some good news about this baby. At my appt. on Tuesday the baby's head was so low that the doctor couldn't get to my cervix, but she could tell that is was thinning out a lot. It hurt so much as soon as she went in though, that I started crying, which is apparently what I needed to do all along because she felt so bad that she talked to me about inducing early. She thinks, as long as my cervix seems ready, which she believes it will be, that I can get induced at 39 weeks if I don't go in sooner on my own (which is also a possibilty.) My appointment next week is with someone else but she thinks he will consent as long as everything seems good, so that means I could get induced as soon as next weekend, but it probably won't be till after the weekend. I am just so relieved to know that I definitely won't be late, life is just so pathetic right now. I had to miss the midnight showing of Harry Potter and everything. In conclusion, yay!

Parker Pics

Here are just a few pics of Parker (who looks exactly like Nate) taken this morning. He weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 20 ish in. long, so he doesn't really look like a tiny newborn like the rest of our kids did. After all this time, he did end up coming on his own. Erica was supposed to have a doc appt. today to figure out the next step, so of course, in the middle of the night he decided to start coming. Overall, the labor was good (or at least not too long or painful). She was able to get an epidural pretty quickly and only had to push for 15 min or so. We are headed back up tonight once everyone has gotten some sleep and then we should be able to bring them home tomorrow. Enjoy the photos!

Parker made it!

I don't know a lot of details yet, but Parker Miller (at least I think that is his name still) has finally made his appearance into the world. I believe it happened at a little after 6 am this morning, which is why I wasn't there, and he is healthy. I am actually getting ready to head up to Olympia right now, so I will have more details later. My cell number is 360-388-6161, if anyone wants additional info later or for me to pass on a message or anything! Yay, my first nephew! K gotta go...

Dang babies

I did it, I jinxed her. Due to the high traffic of other women popping, Erica wasn't able to get induced this morning. It sucks for us, but must be even worse for her. She is now on a call list, currently third in line, to get induced. It is starting to look like she'll be lucky to have it this weekend. None of her own inducement methods have worked so far, and she has tried most, but she might take another walk this afternoon just to really give it the old college try. So, here is to hoping Parker makes an appearance soon!

Parker's almost here!

Babies come when they want to, but sometimes they need a push, or a shove, or a doctor coaxing them out with modern medicine. This is definitely the case for Erica and Parker (what they plan to name the stubborn little boy.) Her original due date was the 27th of June and that got stretched to possibly the 3rd of July, but this baby is for sure late and isn't making any signs of coming. So, after many weeks of jumping every time Erica's name came up on caller id, there is a plan for this baby to make an appearance. This morning, Friday July 10th, Erica is scheduled to be induced. As long as there aren't too many other women trying to pop at the same time, she should be able to get to the hospital around 8:30 and hopefully have that thing some time today. Mom and I will be heading up to Olympia around 10 (if all goes well, knock on wood) to be with her before the baby comes, and of course see him after, too. Erica is not the most, umm how to say this, great at dealing with stress, or pain, or people, so she would like us to arrive after the epidural! I hope every thing goes good, and fast, and I will try to keep everyone updated once he arrives, if you care, I don't really know if anyone is close to Erica, oh well. Man I should not write these at 5:30, ok I'm done!

4th of July (Parts 1 & 2)

In true Abrahamson fashion, we couldn't celebrate a holiday fully on the actual day we are supposed to. Our Fourth of July was broken into two. The food and smores roasting was done on the 2nd and the swimming and fireworks were done on the 4th. So, we'll start with the part 1. Jesse wasn't going to be here on the fourth so Nate and Erica came out on the 2nd to do a bar-b-q and hang out.
Madison and Peyton getting ready for chow time, notice the glasses, she looks like a little scholar.

Erica was super excited because we had corn on the cob and did smores, all things she's been wanting. After we scarfed down our food, rather quickly, we went over to enjoy some pool time.

Madison didn't love the big pool so she just played by herself.

Peyton and Jesse had fun in the big one, Jesse was trying to teach P to dunk his head under. I just watched the excitement from the side like a beached whale!

Once dried off, the boys played some b-ball while the kids just played.

Jesse should like this picture of him dunking because we can't see the funny face I am sure he is making.

Madison is actually sort of pushing P here. She can hold on to stuff and walk, she just hasn't mastered doing it by herself.

Funny story, Peyton is holding a sand dollar. He has recently started picking them up and trying to take a bite out of them while saying "cookie" like cookie monster has so graciously taught him.

Then it was time for a fire and smores and no, there wasn't any singing of campfire songs this time. I also enjoyed the mallows, but we have decided it is harder to do now that there are curious children about.

On the actual 4th, we had Melia and Isabell here, but not Jesse. The evening started out casually, with some playing in the pool and drive way.

Peyton and Isabell enjoyed the sprinkler and Izzy looked so cute in her little swim suit! Madison arrived after the sprinkler, but had a good time just playing in the pool. Melia trying to make the power wheels go with her on it, she didn't make much progress.

Here is a good comparison of Erica and I. She is now past her due date with no new progress and I am at 36 weeks. I don't feel like I am showing as much yet as I did last time which seems weird. Let's hope for a small baby!

Next came the fireworks portion of the evening. We never buy a lot and this year was no exception. At first we didn't think we would be able to do fireworks because P got really freaked out by the ground flowers. He didn't take too much of an interest in the pop-its, but us girls always like to do them. Here he is watching us do the pop-its, it is a very good look for him.

Sparklers were interesting, both Peyton and Madison were wary of them, but then liked them and wanted to touch them. Peyton actually thought it was a sprinkler, not a sparkler. He kept trying to run through it and lick it.

Later, he was still spooked by the noises, especially at first, but that gave us some good cuddle time, and I never get that. After a bit, he got into it and started clapping and high-fiving when things exploded.
The spectators enjoying the show, notice Peyton huddled against me, my little wuss.

Cousin Play

On Wednesday, all three of the cousins were here to play, so we got out both pools and were able to capture some cute moments.

Proof positive that Melia is the one who stuck her daughter in the big pool. She then left her and when Mom and I turned around she was desperately trying to get her head out of the water. Izzy was not a big fan of the water after that.

Madison really enjoyed trying to feed Isabell grass.

Pretend you don't see Mom in the background, she hates being in pictures, but I thought Peyton looked cute.

They all took turns pretty well with the car. Here P is pushing Izzy, but she actually pushed him some too.